Page 9 - Aerotech News and Review, January 8, 2021.

NASA, from 8
Development of COVID-19 Solutions
NASA Armstrong joined a task force in the Antelope Val-
ley to build medical devices to help patients with coronavi-
rus. The team partnered with Antelope Valley Hospital, the
City of Lancaster, Virgin Galactic, The Spaceship Company,
and Antelope Valley College to come up with innovative
ideas to solve possible shortages of critical medical equip-
ment.
This included an oxygen hood developed by engineer Mike
Buttigieg for patients exhibiting minor symptoms to help
minimize the need for these patients to use ventilators. En-
gineer Allen Parker and team designed a canopy that protects
health care workers by safely covering patients, while still
allowing health care providers access to the patients. Arm-
strong’s Life Support team built a plan for a proposed oxygen
NASA photograph by Lauren Hughes distribution system to be used if the need arises.
NASA photograph by Carla Thomas Masten Space Systems vertical takeoff vertical landing rocket
In the early phase of the pilot breathing research in 2018, NASA launched September 10, 2020 to flight test NASA-licensed Psionic
research pilot Jim Less is fitted with a VigilOX oxygen monitoring navigation doppler lidar technology, that enables precision landing
system. The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California on celestial bodies where GPS for navigation only available on
prototype mask was tested in conjunction with this current Earth is not an option.
VigilOX system, which measures the pilot’s oxygen concentration,
breathing pressures and flow rates at NASA’s Armstrong Flight aboard commercial suborbital flight vehicles, the Flight Op-
Research Center in California.
portunities program has a significant impact on advancing
technologies that address NASA mission goals.
sessment program to analyze pilot breathing in high-perfor- The program selected 31 new technologies for commercial
mance fighter jet aircraft concluded in fall 2020. Several flight tests in 2020 that included an option for non-NASA
milestones were added to phase two, which focused on re- researchers to add payloads. In 2020, the program facilitated
fined methods to gather data from Navy and Air Force oxy- 12 flights on five different commercial suborbital vehicles
gen mask regulator systems and in testing cabin pressure in including parabolic fights on Zero-G aircraft.
the F-18 A/B. Other flights include Masten Space Systems testing a
The NASA Engineering and Safety Center at Langley
Research Center in Virginia will publish a report from the navigation doppler lidar and technologies relating to dust NASA photograph by Carla Thomas
data collected in both phases. Researchers will compare data and sample return technologies on the lunar surface. Blue NASA Armstrong engineer Mike Buttigieg works on an oxygen
among pilots, flights, configurations, aircraft performance Origin launched eight technologies including investigating hood system prototype worn by Dr. Daniel Khodabakhsh
and look for patterns or unexpected results that may help sustainable ways to grow foods in microgravity. from Antelope Valley Hospital. The hood is designed to help
researchers understand the causes of a physiological episode. A solicitation for additional flight providers was released coronavirus patients who don’t yet need a ventilator, but who
in 2020 and Virgin Galactic and Masten Space Systems were are experiencing breathing troubles. The hood forces oxygen
Flight Opportunities selected as flight providers. 2020 also marked a decade of into patients with mild coronavirus symptoms, minimizing the
likelihood that the patient will need to use a ventilator.
By supporting the testing of promising space innovations Flight Opportunities.

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