NASA develops high-pressure ventilator in 37 Days for critical COVID-19 patients

Photo credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

New Delhi: NASA engineers have developed a new high-pressure ventilator to combat the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. 

The device, called VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally), was developed by engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California to free up the nation's limited supply of traditional ventilators so they may be used on critical COVID-19 patients.

JPL Director Michael Watkins said, "We specialize in spacecraft, not medical-device manufacturing. But excellent engineering, rigorous testing, and rapid prototyping are some of our specialties. When people at JPL realized they might have what it takes to support the medical community and the broader community, they felt it was their duty to share their ingenuity, expertise, and drive."

The ventilator on Tuesday passed a critical test at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, an epicenter of COVID-19 in the United States.

NASA is now seeking expedited FDA approval for the device via an emergency use authorization, a fast-track approval process developed for crisis situations that takes just days rather than years. 

The Office of Technology Transfer and Corporate Partnerships at Caltech, which manages JPL for NASA, will offer a free license for VITAL and currently is reaching out to the commercial medical industry to find manufacturers for the device.

The US has been the worst COVID-19 hit country in the world with having the most number of coronavirus positive cases and deaths. As of Sunday evening, the US has recorded close to 9,40,000 confirmed cases while more than 54,000 people have lost their lives due to the fatal virus.