Introduction
VITAL by NASA is an exemplary example of excellent engineering, rigorous testing and rapid prototyping demonstrated by space engineers to combat COVID-19.
In the quest to save the world from COVID-19 pandemic, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) developed a new high pressure ventilator specifically designed for corona virus patients at its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California.
The device is called VITAL – Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally.
VITAL is designed to treat patients who might not require a full-featured ventilator and can free up the nation’s limited supply of traditional ventilators.
This was developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion team in Southern California that specializes in spacecraft and the prototype was created in a commendable time span of 37 days.
While a majority of the team working from home, a limited staff stayed in Lab as mission-essential to work on prototype assembly and testing.
Prototype was tested at Human Simulation Lab in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Mount Sinai and approved on 30th April by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for usage through a fast-track approval process developed for crisis situations that take just days rather than years.
Vital uses one-seventh the parts of a traditional ventilator and offers a more affordable option for treating critical patients while saving the use of traditional ventilators for the more severe cases.
VITAL can be built faster and maintained more easily than a traditional ventilator.
Its license is being offered free to manufacturers through the Office of Technology Transfer and Corporate Partnerships at Caltech, which manages JPL for NASA.
Companies selected to manufacture VITAL
In the lookout for companies to take license of the technology and share it with the rest of the world, NASA received about 96 proposals with registrations from more than 331 companies spanning across 42 countries from 6 continents.
NASA selects five Indian companies to manufacture it’s indigenously developed VITAL. India had sent 49 registrations amongst which the following 5 companies got the contract.
Curasigna Systems Private Limited
