In the rush to produce enough ventilators to fight COVID-19, another (perhaps surprising) company has joined the cause: NASA.
The group calls the device VITAL — short for Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally — and they hope it can help to reduce the pressure on the nation’s supply of ventilators already in circulation.
“We specialize in spacecraft, not medical-device manufacturing,” Michael Watkins, Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement. “But excellent engineering, rigorous testing and rapid prototyping are some of our specialties. When people at JPL realized they might have what it takes to support the medical community and the broader community, they felt it was their duty to share their ingenuity, expertise and drive.”
Okay, so it was built by NASA engineers, but does that mean it’s really any good? Actually, yeah, according to doctors at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. After the prototype was built it was sent to Mount Sinai for rigorous testing and feedback for the engineers.
Read the full article on the New York Post.
