JPL Technologies Chosen for Space Technology Hall of Fame

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Rhea Borja 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Rhea.R.Borja@jpl.nasa.gov

Kendra Horn 719-576-8000
Space Foundation, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Kendra@spacefoundation.org

NEWS RELEASE 2008-041 March 13, 2008

JPL Technologies Chosen for Space Technology Hall of Fame

PASADENA, CALIF. -- Two technologies developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
have been selected for the Space Foundation's 2008 Space Technology Hall of Fame. Judges for
the nonprofit foundation chose ArterioVision, a software that helps better diagnose heart disease,
and Petroleum Remediation Product, a powder made of beeswax microcapsules that cleans up oil
spills in an environmentally-friendly way.

ArterioVision is used with a standard ultrasound to precisely measure the thickness of the two
inner layers of the carotid artery, known as the carotid intima media thickness. Doing so allows
doctors to determine the age and health of a patient's arteries and better predict and minimize his
or her risk for heart disease.

JPL, Medical Technologies International, and the University of Southern California's Keck
School of Medicine-Atherosclerosis Research Unit, will be inducted into the 2008 Space
Technology Hall of Fame for ArterioVision. Initially developed at JPL in the 1990s,
ArterioVision is derived from the Video Imaging Communication and Retrieval software used to
process pictures from NASA spacecraft imagery.

Medical Technologies International, of Palm Desert, Calif., licensed the space-imaging software
and USC tested and adapted it for diagnostic medical use. JPL's Innovative Partnership Program
managed this and other industry partnerships that result in commercialization.

The individuals who developed and adapted ArterioVision will also be honored April 10 in
Colorado Springs at the 24th National Space Symposium, an annual gathering of the global
space community.

These individuals are:

- Robert Selzer, Medical Technologies International's chief engineer and the former head of
JPL's Biomedical Image Processing Group

- Gary Thompson, chairman and chief executive officer of Medical Technologies International

- Dr. Howard N. Hodis, Director of the Atherosclerosis Research Unit at USC's Keck School of
Medicine

In addition, the Space Foundation will commend Helenann Kwong-Fu, a JPL mission-assurance
manager for the Phoenix Mars lander and Spitzer Space Telescope flight projects. She helped
develop the technology and standardize protocols for image acquisition.

Petroleum Remediation Product, the second technology that the Space Foundation will honor,
originated at JPL and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, in Huntsville, Ala. JPL
demonstrated the feasibility of encapsulating live cells, while technology developed at Marshall
for experiments in orbital production of microspheres gave the basic design of the delivery
system. Industry scientists then worked with researchers at both NASA centers to develop the
technology.

The natural and biodegradable product cleans up oil and other contaminants via thousands of
microcapsules -- tiny balls of beeswax with hollow centers. Water cannot penetrate the
microcapsule's cell, but oil is absorbed into the beeswax spheres. This way, oil is caught before it
settles into soil or water.

Besides honoring the technology itself, the Space Foundation will also induct the company that
makes and distributes it -- Pittsburgh-based Universal Remediation, Inc. The company stepped
up production and expanded availability of the product to such clients as Alcoa and U.S. Steel.

More information on the Space Technology Hall of Fame is at

http://spacetechhalloffame.org/ .

More information on JPL is at http://jpl.nasa.gov . More information on ArterioVision is at

http://i-mti.com/the_technology.htm . More information on Petroleum Remediation Product is at

http://unireminc.com/ .

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