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BOB HIRSHON (host):
Space technology for carpets. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.
A NASA x-ray analyzer is now being used to test carpet cleaning equipment. The hand-held device reads a material’s chemical signature by shooting x-rays at it and then measuring the x-rays that bounce back.
Inventor Lloyd Starks of KeyMaster Technologies says his company helped create the device to verify the composition of parts on the Space Shuttle. They then realized the analyzer could also measure the composition of soil in carpets. Starks says the carpet industry was looking for a better way to test cleaning products.
LLYOD STARKS (KeyMaster Technologies):
Now for the first time they have a technique which is really verifiable scientifically to determine how well carpet-cleaning equipment performs.
HIRSHON:
He says NASA’s even considering the device for carpets in moon habitats. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.