How Space Exploration Has Impacted Health Care

When one thinks of space, many ideas come to mind. Many of us admire the stars at night, or may even try to catch a glimpse of Saturn through a telescope. The mysterious nature of space draws us to wonder what lies beyond our atmosphere.

What many do not know is that space exploration has made significant contributions to advancements in healthcare. When Congress established NASA in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, it required NASA to share information about its discoveries. NASA was also allowed to patent inventions and help businesses develop commercial uses for them. Many of the medical breakthroughs that were enabled by NASA were thanks to NASA’s partnership with other researchers, some of which approached NASA with discoveries or with the potential to keep astronauts healthy in flight.

Sometimes NASA did not invent the breakthrough, but contributed to its development. Today, many healthcare providers require information provided by MRIs. MRI stands for “magnetic resonance imaging,” and it is a type of imaging that helps healthcare providers detect disease, the extent of an injury, and identify the proper diagnosis. The MRI machine itself is a large box-looking object with a cylindrical space in the middle in which a table with a patient on it can be inserted. The actual imaging itself is carried about by the machine employing strong magnets that produce a powerful magnetic field capable of forcing protons in the patient’s body to align with that magnetic field. The MRI scan is a non-invasive type of imaging that can take anywhere from fifteen to ninety minutes. When the scan is complete, a healthcare provider has a detailed viewing of the state of a patient’s internal anatomy, particularly soft tissue, organs, bones, and the existence of any tumors or bodily injury. Since the early 1990s, the MRI has been a commonly used reliable tool utilized in hospitals. The development of the MRI is largely thanks to NASA. While NASA did not invent the MRI, in the 1960s before its Apollo Landing Lunar Program, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed technology known as digital image processing to allow computer enhancement of pictures of the moon.

In addition to the development of the MRI, digital image processing has also furthered the development of CT scans, also known as computed tomography scans. CT scans generally take about ten minutes and like MRIs, allow a healthcare provider to obtain a view of a patient’s soft tissue, organs, bones, and blood vessels. The CT is executed by computerized x-ray images that are aimed at a patient and quickly rotated around the body. This allows the computer to generate cross sectional images that are put together to form a three-dimensional image. Through the viewing of a CT scan, healthcare providers can check for the existence of any tumors or abnormalities within the patient’s internal anatomy.

Another invention that derived from space exploration is the LVAD device. Engineers at the Johnson Center in Houston Dr. Michael deBakey developed this device that is used in many patients awaiting heart transplants. LVAD stands for “left ventricular assist device,” and it assists the heart by pumping blood from the left ventricle (one of the lower chambers of the heart) to the aorta, the largest blood vessel in the body that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Since the LVAD was approved in 1994, it has been instrumental in prolonging the lifespan of those with weakened hearts.

NASA’s Innovative Partnerships Program at the Marshall Flight Center also sponsored clinical trials on medical uses of light technology, which was originally advanced for plant studies on space shuttles. A Wisconsin Company along with a research center sponsored by NASA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison discovered how the usage of light technology can reduce the painful side effects cancer patients with bone marrow or stem cell transplants face during chemotherapy and various radiation treatments.

It is not common to associate space exploration with advancements in medicine. However, a plethora of life-saving advancements in healthcare are in part thanks to NASA and the space exploration industry. In our post-modern society, we have many advancements in medicine, but countless discoveries have yet to come. It would certainly be safe to say that our future lies in the stars!