Moonshots & Moments

By Lars Reger, CTO, NXP Semiconductors

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Apollo program’s accomplishments a half century ago, and what we can learn from them.

Like many other technology leaders, my company played a role on that fateful day in July when Neil Armstrong emerged from the Eagle lander, set foot on the Lunar surface, and said to millions sitting in front of their broadcast television sets: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

We provided the specially developed backpack antenna that Armstrong wore and equipment to process TV signals on Earth, as well as supplying thousands of semiconductor devices and other ground and on-board communications that transmitted telemetry and biomedical signals. 

Those innovations came from a division of Motorola, which would eventually become Freescale Semiconductor and merge with NXP.

That moment, in the evening of July 20th, was the culmination of nearly a decade’s worth of impassioned innovation (even longer, depending on where you pinpoint the start of the human adventure into space). It delivered on the promise that America’s President Kennedy made in 1961 to send human beings to the Moon. 

But I wonder if the moonshot as a program, or seen as a process, delivered far more value, not only to America but to the world? 

The initiative spun-off a stunningly robust and impactful list of technologies that were (and are) used to change the world: New ways to purify water that are used widely in industry and public spaces; novel fabrication techniques that helped give birth to today’s running shoes; new materials that are used to make buildings more sustainable and oil pipelines safer; advanced cooking methods that keep food served in hospitals fresher longer; and, of course, Tang. 

Nearest to my professional life, the Apollo program required powerful computers that could be lifted into space, and committed to using an unproven, new technology called “the integrated circuit.” Some estimates are that NASA bought as much as 60% of the entire US supply of these chips in the early 1960s, thereby giving the industry in which I work its “launch.”

So, while the actual landing on the Moon in 1969 was a moment to relish the accomplishments of the program, I wonder if the prior decade was the real payday for the effort.

I think this is very relevant to us today. 

There are various “moonshots” underway today; they might not be as formal as the NASA program, but they’re no less bold: Vehicles that drive themselves, computers that help us make decisions, industrial robots that do difficult, dangerous jobs, and an entire world in which human needs and desires are evermore anticipated and automated.

 As we strive toward these future goals, we are discovering and applying new technologies every day. 

Take a fully autonomous car as an example: Estimates now are that a vehicle that is 100% autonomous (a true Level 5 of operation, as defined by SAE International) may be 3 to 5 years in the future, and those are forecasts, not guarantees. 

Our pursuit of that goal is already yielding immense benefits like sensors that enable vehicles to see farther, in more diverse environments, and with greater clarity, which yields better and more proactive driver decision-making. Processing innovations have empowered vehicles to assess and take actions in support of drivers, such as lane-change tools, and the latest connectivity technologies are helping facilitate better, and therefore safer and more reliable coordination between vehicles on roads, and from those vehicles to roadway infrastructure.

In simple terms, we don’t have to wait for the fully autonomous car to realize the payday for our technology innovation. This moonshot is paying dividends by saving lives right now.

I take this lesson to heart every day I go to work, as I strive not only to move closer to reaching our vision goals, but focus on how our journey can yield benefits to our customers and to their customers. I think we can all learn from such an approach.

Today, I’m celebrating the implicit value of the process that got us to the Moon. The moment mattered, but the program did, too, perhaps even more so.