Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

Percentage of Economic Impact Already
Realized from NASA Contributions
100
75
50
25
0
Metals
Telemetry
EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN 445
Simulation
Machining
Gas Dynamics
Joining
NDT Microwaves
Ceramics
Energy Conversion
25 50 75 100
Percentage of NASA Contributions with
Commercial Applications
Figure 8. Relationship Between Economic Impact Already Realized From NASA Contributions and Proportion of Contributions
Finding Commercial Applications
Document III-9
Cryogenics
Integrated Circuits
Document title: “Quantifying the Benefits to the National Economy from Secondary
Applications of NASA Technology—Executive Summary,” NASA CR-2674, Mathematica,
Inc., March 1976.
Source: NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Office, NASA
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
This study examined four cases of major technologies (cryogenics, gas turbines, integrated circuits,
and the NASTRAN computer program) that NASA had advanced during the 1960s and showed,
based on economic studies and interviews, that their benefits could be as high as $6.9 billion over ten
years. Mathematica, Inc., relied on microeconomic consumer surplus theory, which is a more traditional
approach to measuring benefits and more easily understood than production function
approaches. Most of the benefits resulted from the earlier introduction of the specific technology rather
than the development of the technology itself.