RFID Goes to Outer Space

Filed in archive Tags and Readers on February 9, 2007

Intermec RFID tags are going to be tested in outer space by NASA.

Roland Piquepaille writes in an article entitled "Will RFID Tags Work on Mars?":

According to Computerworld, NASA will start to test this summer if RFID technology can survive in outer space. A variety of RFID tags will be on the space shuttle Endeavour in July during a trip to the International Space Station. Then they'll be installed inside containers attached to the exterior of the ISS and stay there for a year before a return to Earth for analysis. If these initial tests are successful, NASA will check at the end of 2009 if RFID tags will work on the Moon. But the real goal is to ease the daily lives of the astronauts who will travel to Mars.

Roland's article has links to several other interesting articles and resources on the subject.

The project will involve development of new forms of RFID tags capable of withstanding exposure to the extreme levels of ultraviolet radiation, atomic oxygen, hard vacuum, and contamination in low earth orbit.

And while the materials and technology behind the RFID tags sounds sexy and exotic, the application really amounts to old fashioned asset tracking and environmental sensors.