NASA Spent Millions on a Pen?!?

Question

i read an article BY CIARA CURTIN .. title: NASA Spent Millions on a Pen in section (fact or fiction)

WHAT THE HELL?! IT SO STUPID! THE RUSSIANS USED A PENCIL THAT COST $1 OR LESS (I DON'T know the pencil price in russia!)

in scientific american

its not news its in the section (fact or fiction)

Answer 1

it was not just 1 million for ONE pen.

they produced millions of those pens.

its was the research and design they paid for and the patent.

after all was said and done, after using it in space to doddle with,,,the pen now is been sold as a novelty, because it really doesn't have that much of an important value.

they've sold millions of those pens straight out of nasa's souvinier shop, multiple international companies and through mail order catalogs.
The have probably already recouped all the money invested in that pen through sales and patent loans.

Answer 2

If you think about it for a moment it is totally logical for NASA to spend millions of dollars to conduct research into the very best way to perform writing in Space.

Space has a temperature range somewhere around 0 Degrees Kelvin. None of the basic ball point or fountain type pens will function at that temperature. So, some type of new design is needed. The designed pen should also work at normal space ship interior temperatures which are about 68 to 72 Degrees F.

Atmospheric Pressure is also a quantity to be considered.
Normal ball point pens work in the atmospheric pressure of about 14 PSI on Earth. Atmospheric pressures in Space could range from 0 PSI all the way up to say 20 PSI. One would certainly want to know that the ink would be retained inside the ball point pen and not squirt or leak out all over the important documents and pads of reference notes that the Space Travelers utilize.

I can easily see this research taking teams of researchers of at least 200 individuals working for at least a year to come up with suitable prototypes for the needed product.

Next, and also worthy of at least a year of study by a qualified team might be the Space Inks contained within the Space Pen. Certainly inks would be needed that flowed uniformly over a sheet of paper at 0 Degrees Kelvin, and yet dried to the touch in less than a second. Those same inks should also perform in an identical manner at about 90 degrees F. Wow, that is really a tough one to solve. Oh, yes, the inks should be available in Black, Blue, Red, and Yellow (to highlight something).

Pencils were not what the design request stipulated.

Answer 3

They didn't spend millions on a pen. This is an old myth. You can actually buy the pen yourself.

The pen actually costs more now than it did then and you can buy it from Fisher Pens for $50.00.

Pencils are not a good option for the astronauts because the tips break, and graphite acts as a lubricant-in weightless enviroments this could be especially bad.

Jim

Answer 4

Yes, NASA did spend oodles of money to develop a pen that can write in 0g. Good thing too, Armstrong and Aldrin may still be camped out in the Sea of Tranquility on the surface of the moon if they only had pencils.
Part of this study found that as you erased, the particles of the eraser could float behind the circuit panels and cause shorts (because the eraser particles would have graphite embedded in them. Graphite is what pencil lead is made of, and is an electrically conductive material). This would not be good at anytime during a mission. I mean, your cruising along, happily performing mission objectives when BAM! The computer system dies, your lights go out, the oxygen scrubber shuts down, the heater stops, and your RCS (reaction control system) starts going crazy. This would ruin your day.
I hope this helps. Good luck.

Answer 5

This is another example of where space research has proven useful to the average person on Earth. I own one of these space pens (you can buy them in most science stores) and it is truly wonderful. I use it in all temperatures, for writing in bed (try that with an ordinary pen), and it hasn't required a new cartridge in the more than two years I've owned it, using it every day. It's the only pen I use now. It wouldn't exist if NASA hadn't done the R&D for it.

Answer 6

It also saved the 1st Moon Landing from turning into a tragedy. While removing their suits after their EVA, Armstrong's helmet snapped off the toggle switch for arming their liftoff. The space pen came to the rescue and solved the problem.

Answer 7

Here's the Wikipedia article on the Fisher Space Pen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_space_pen

It includes a link to Snopes
http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp

The essence is that Fisher developed the pen, NASA didn't pay them money for the development, both NASA and the Soviet program used similar writing equipment but both later ended up buying space pens from Fisher.

Answer 8

They spend lots of money and time researching it, then it becomes available to the public. They set the standard for decent pens.

Answer 9

I think it's the same pen they make jokes about on Sinefeld, where it can write upside down.

Answer 10

Yeah, I remember that debate back in the 1960s...LOL! Old news is still news!