keithl@vice.UUCP (Keith Lofstrom) (04/25/84)
There they go again...
NASA may have indeed spun off most of the things on the posted "spinoff"
list (I don't know one way or the other), but not the microcircuit or the
microprocessor. The first integrated circuits were intended for weapon
fuses, the first TTL circuits were supplied to the Minuteman program, the
first MOS circuits were developed for encryption systems, and the first
MOS microprocessor was intended for a terminal. In electronics, NASA is
small potatoes compared to most commercial markets, and the original research
they do is pretty meager compared to many major universities or companies.
Missing from the list, of course, are the technological means (rockets,
guidance systems, improved re-entry methods, etc.) for thermonuclear
devastation, although we should probably give most of the credit for this,
as well as many other "space spinoffs", to the vastly better funded D.O.D.
And don't forget Pillsbury Space Food Sticks! :-)
An IC designer and private space researcher,
in the heart of the Silicon Forest:
--
Keith Lofstrom
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