John Bradley, Ph.D. is the Director of the National Laboratory's Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, an Institute located in Livermore, CA. But on January 15, 2006 Dr. Bradley was not in Livermore, CA. In the early hours of that morning he stood in a Utah desert, awaiting the arrival of the Stardust Capsule, the container from space that carried samples of cometary dust.

The scientists at Livermore had developed the aerogel on board the awaited spacecraft. The aerogel would serve as insulation, a protective barrier for what Dr. Bradley called "cosmic crud". The aerogel would protect the "crud", the cometary dust from the force of the impact that would result when the container from the Stardust spacecraft landed on the desert floor. 

Later scientists in Livermore, CA would examine closely each of the tiny cosmic specks in that aerogel. Those scientists in Livermore, CA would thus reveal to the world much information about the nature of the universe at the time when life was created. That was because the dust from comets, the cometary dust carried to earth on January 15, 2006, had changed little since the time when the universe had first been created. That dust provided clues about what elements existed in the universe at the time when life first began on Earth. 

Aerogel was not the first special chemical developed by the scientists at the Livermore Lab. Livermore chemists have invented many special chemicals in their California laboratories. Perhaps some day those chemicals could reach large numbers of the public. Perhaps some day one or more of those materials might be made available through a commercial enterprise.

Livermore now has many rentals. Livermore. CA has businesses that rent cars, businesses that rent videos and DVDs, businesses that rent storage space. Perhaps in the future it will have a new type of rental business among all of those rentals. Livermore, CA could one day be making money by renting insulation material made out of aerogel.

And aerogel is not the only special chemical in Livermore, CA that could one day be available for rent. Livermore's superplasic nanotubes would be a popular item if they were ever rented to the public. Those superplastic nanotubes have the ability to give ceramics added strength.

Were those superplastic nanotubes created from a special substance only found in Livermore, CA? No, they were actually created by applying extreme tension to materials that can be found in all cell phones. That is why they have such great commercial value. The material from which they are made is so easy to obtain.

Of course the scientists at Livermore are not about to stop creating new chemicals. The effort to explore space requires a constant stream of new chemicals. Any of those new chemicals could one day join aerogel and superplastic nanotubes as materials that could offer commercial value. Any of those materials could one day be available for rent, and could thus help to bring more money into Livermore, CA.