# Does NASA use whale oil

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-nasa-use-whale-oil/545542>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 4, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-nasa-use-whale-oil/545542 "2010-07-04T18:49:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![TRHickey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b77776/32.png) [@TRHickey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRHickey)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-nasa-use-whale-oil/545542/41 "2013-07-04T19:04:49Z")

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> [@PlainJain](#):
>
> Yep, powered is their word not mine. I assumed it was used as a lubricant. I’m curious, if true how would they legally obtain it?

Sorry but I just watched a rerun of the episode in question. It says the Hubble Space Telescope _ **runs** _ on whale, not that it is powered by it.

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**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-nasa-use-whale-oil/545542/42 "2013-07-05T16:27:26Z")

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Here’s [the Wiki page on Whale Oil.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_oil) The only modern use was in car automatic transmission fluid up until the 1980s.

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