Benefit from NASA

AiroCide Ti02, an anthrax-killing air scrubber manufactured by KES Science and Technology Inc., in Kernesaw, Georgia, looks like a square metal box when it is installed on an office wall. Its fans draw in airborne spores and airflow forces them through a maze of tubes. Inside, hydroxyl radicals (OH-) attack and kill pathogens. Most remaining spores are destroyed by high-energy ultraviolet photons. Building miniature greenhouses for experiments on the International Space Station (ISS) has led to the invention of this device that annihilates anthrax-a bacteria that can be deadly when inhaled. The research enabling the invention started at the University of Wisconsin (Madison) Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR), one of 17 NASA Commercial Space Centers. A special coating technology used in the anthrax-killing invention is also being used inside WCSAR-built plant growth units on the ISS. This commercial research is managed by the Space Product Development Program at the Marshall Space Flight Center.