Washington, May 1 : A simplified ventilator created by NASA engineers and tailored for use on novel coronavirus (COVID-19) victims won emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), NASA said on Friday.
“This FDA authorization is a key milestone in a process that exemplifies the best of what government can do in a time of crisis,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement. “This ventilator is one of countless examples of how taxpayer investments in space exploration – the skills, expertise and knowledge collected over decades of pushing boundaries and achieving firsts for humanity – translate into advancements that improve life on Earth”.
The ventilator consists of about 80 parts, one-seventh of the number of pieces comprising larger, more complicated machines that are designed for multiple medical users, the release said.
As a result, the machine can be built faster and maintained more easily than traditional machines. It pumps oxygen under high pressure through a tube inserted in a patient’s throat directly into the lungs, the release added.
The machine was developed by engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) while working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Licenses for the design and technology are being offered at no cost to commercial developers by the California Institute of Technology, which manages JPL for NASA, according to the release.
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