NASA Accidentally Found a Way to Make Buildings Safer During Earthquakes

Space flight has contributed many innovations with applications on Earth including LEDs, firefighting technologies and freeze-dried foods just to name a few. NASA has developed a stabilizing technology that prevents rockets from shaking and will also help protect buildings against high winds and earthquakes. The new stabilizer is less costly, a benefit for developing nations, and kicks into action faster than current technology that adds more weight to a structure with a tuned mass dumper. Adding more weight was not practical for rockets, explains Margo Pearce for Quartz, and a NASA research team focused on the rocket fuel, making “it move in a way that counteracted the vibration would perform the same function as adding more weight.” The researchers “identified the frequency of the rocket’s vibration – then changed the liquid’s frequency to match it.” The system relies on the natural frequency of a structure’s movement, not the individual earthquake or wind event, and is reported to reduce vibrations twentyfold. – YaleGlobal