NASA testing this device to monitor astronauts’ health on missions

CLEVELAND (WJW) – It’s bigger than a Fitbit and smaller than a breadbox, but what’s inside this 10 by 8 case can do big diagnostic medical tests.

“You’ll see a line start to trend here in the middle and as you connect the different accessories, you’ll begin to see your vital signs,” said Courtney Schkurko, project director at NASA Glenn’s Zero Gravity Research Facility

The device, called the Phillips Tempus Pro, is used worldwide by emergency medical services.

This model is different. It’s tough enough to work in extreme conditions on earth, but space is truly the most extreme of all conditions.

Right now, a twin device is orbiting the earth inside a Space X Dragon capsule as part of 30 experiments on the Polaris Dawn space mission.

But before it got there, it was put through its paces right here.

“We have a couple of situations here where maybe you’re using the device on yourself. Can you plug the accessories in? Can you take your own measurements in case you have to provide yourself care?” Schkurko said.

Storage space is an issue on spacecraft, so medical tools have to be compact and usable by people who aren’t necessarily doctors.

“If you have someone going to a doctor’s office, you’ll have a physical or someone who acts like a doctor providing care to a sick patient, so we also evaluate our devices under different scenarios,” she said.

Schkurko says a big part of this is also to test how fast and accurate the information gathered by the Tempus Pro can be transmitted back to earth through Space X’s Starlink satellite system.

She says that would help doctors on earth check vitals and diagnose health issues that could come up during space missions.

Over the year, other teams at the zero gravity lab at NASA Glenn have tested and developed many different ways to support the health of astronauts, including developing the harness that helps hold a person in place to run on a zero gravity treadmill.

Testing the Tempus Pro with Space X, Shurko says, is all part of NASA teaming up with the private sector to continue to discover ways to care for and protect humans in space, as we continue to reach further into the solar system

“It’s amazing that NASA gets these opportunities with our commercial partners to do this additional science that we wouldn’t’ have been able to do 10 years ago,” Schkurko said.

Schkurko says they should get a good look at the data collected during the tests when the Space X mission returns to earth.

She says the telemedicine aspect alone could change how astronauts’ health is monitored in the future.

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