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Cell Phones
Without Star Trek we would not have cell phones. The man who invented the first portable cellphone Martin Cooper said that when watching the show and Captain Kirk using his communicator it inspired him to create the first portable handheld cell phone. -
Nichelle Nichols Recuits The First Black Woman In Space
Even after her travels on Star Trek Nichelle Nichols still wanted to explore space. She came to work for NASA because she made a speech, where she criticized NASA for not picking women, or anyone of color to be future astronauts. NASA invited her to find and recruit talented new candidates. She recuited five women, three African American men, and an Asian American. She still today trys to involve more women in the sciences. -
Star Trek uses images from Hubble Space Telescope
In the Star Trek: Voyager TV Series the special effects department got in touch with the new Hubble Space Telescope. They wanted to improve on the pictures of space that they were showing on the show, so they could make it more realistic. They would use just-released images from the Hubble Space Telescope to solve that problem. For several years Hubble images were used in Star Trek:Voyager, mostly on computer screens. But they added a touch of realism in the science fiction show. -
Telepresence
Telepresence is futuristic video conferencing. The experience was immersal, and was convincing enough to make you believe that the person who you were talking to was really there. AT&T and Cisco teamed up to try to deliver the worlds first in-depth telepresence experience. Using the aspects of audio, video, and ambient lighting to mirror surroundings and mimic sounds so that the user on each side would feel like as if the images they are seeing are in the same room as them. -
Tricorder
Whenever Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy went on to a unknown planet they always would carry this Tricorder. It was used to measure everything from oxygen levels to detecting diseases. In the real world NASA uses this thing called LOCAD-PTS, which is short for Lab-On-a-Chip-Application Development Portable Test System. It is a handheld portable biological lab that identfys microbes on spcae station surfaces. They are now developing new chips so it can detect what 'bug' an astronaut has if they are ill. -
Handheld Computers: iPads vs. PADDS
In Star Trek: The Next Generation characters frequently used hand-held touchscreen networked computers called PADDs (Personal Access Display Devices). Doug Drexler the artist that worked on the show said that the iPad is very similar to the fictional PADDs designed in the 1980s. They both have a sleek desgin and are very powerful computers that can be taken anywhere. -
Glasses
The character Geordi was remembered by his eyewear. Geordi was blind, but after a surgical operation and aided through the use of a device called VISOR (Visual Instrument and Sensory Organ Replacement), Geordi could see throughout the electromagnetic spectrum. Today we are still trying to make a pair of glasses that could help the blind. But the closest we can get right now is EnChroma glasses that correct colorblindness. If the user is wearing the glasses they will have corrected vision. -
Hypospray
Hypospray is a form of hypodermic injection of medication. A hypospray injection is forced under the skin with high air pressure. The high air pressure shoots the vaccine into the skin so that no needle is needed. In the real-world we have a form of this that is known as a jet injector. Fun fact, the technology of this 'hypospray' was used before "Star Trek" was even a thing. Jet injectors were originally designed to be used in mass vaccinations. Since there were no needles it was safer. -
Universal Translators
The crew of the Enterprise often used a “universal translator” to communicate with aliens. In the real world Microsoft introduced Skype Translator. This tool helped make a Skype conversation possible between a person speaking English in California and a person speaking German in London. The translation happens in near real-time with each person’s voice translated for the receiver’s preferred language. It is one step closer to having the universal traslators that they had in the show. -
Failed attempts at creating a real Star Ship Enterprise
A Space Tourism Company called Virgin Galactic named one of its planned spacecraft the VSS Enterprise, after the TV Show. The ship was built in 2004 and undergone several in-atmosphere tests in preperation for space. The VSS Enterprise was destroyed in 2014 during a crash that killed one pilot and severly ingured another. In the past NASA named a prototype shuttle the Enterprise but it has not designed to fly in space. Those were the last two atempts on making a working Enterprise. -
Transparent Aluminum Armor
In one of the episodes of the show Scotty traded the formula matrix for transparent aluminum for sheets of plexiglass in order to build a tank to transport the two humpback whales. In the real world there is such a thing as transparent aluminum armor or aluminum oxynitride (ALON). It is a ceramic material that starts out as a powder before heat and pressure turn it into a crystalline form similar to glass. Once in the crystalline form, the material is strong enough to withstand bullets. -
Holodecks and Oculus Rift
The Holodeck is a fictional virtual reality facility in the Star Trek universe. It is often used for recreational activities on the ship. Even though in the real world we have not invented a full body virtual reality but the closest thing we have is the Oculus Rift. It is placed on your eyes and you feel like you are in a different place. It was mostly used for gameing. If you turn your head the game would turn. It is the closest thing to a full virtual experience so far.
