Thirty years ago, engineer Christopher Walker had a serendipitous moment while making chocolate pudding. His mother’s call distracted him, causing him to cover the pot with plastic wrap. When he returned, he noticed the warped plastic reflected light and had an innovative idea. This idea eventually became the Large Balloon Reflector (LBR), an inflatable device that revolutionizes space-based sensing and communications. With funding from NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, Walker has developed a 33-foot-diameter LBR that can be used as a parabolic antenna. This technology has potential applications in astronomy and deep-space missions, and is being tested on the CatSat CubeSat. Overall, this revolutionary idea came from an unlikely origin – a pot of chocolate pudding.
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/nasa-tech-breathes-life-into-potentially-game-changing-antenna-design/