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GPS tracking and satellite technology are the most important, “can’t do without” space technologies, according to a recent survey conducted by the Space Foundation. The study is featured on the Space Certification website here. The survey concluded just in time for World Space Week, which began October 4th, 2011, and asked participants to answer the following questions:

1)    Which space-based invention has had the biggest impact on society?

2)    What space invention could they not live without?

The answers revealed that more than half of the participants credited satellite technology (such as GPS tracking and navigation) with having the most impact on society and that they couldn’t imagine living without it.

According to the survey, 24 percent of participants said that the Global Positioning System (used for GPS tracking and navigation) was the most influential technology in our modern society. 29 percent of participants said that they couldn’t live without GPS.

In second place, 22 percent said that satellites used for communication had the most impact on society.

Other technologies that made the list of having the most impact on society included medical imaging, discoveries made by the Hubble Space Telescope, and microelectronics and computer-based inventions.

The survey also revealed that a high percentage of participants felt they couldn’t live without pressure-relieving foam mattresses, smoke detectors, microwave technology and robotics.

“It’s not surprising that many of the inventions our respondents cited either carry Space Certification or have been inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame,” said Space Foundation director, Kevin Cook.

Cook went on to state that “what’s gratifying is that many people know that the technologies that make their lives easier and better originally came from space development – and that the technologies might not be there if there were not active space programs. . . We’re announcing the results during World Space Week because this is an excellent time to remind people of the many, many ways space affects them personally.”

To read more about this survey or to find out more about the Space Foundation that RMT is a part of, visit http://www.spacecertification.org/.

Article Written by Marisa O’Connor