NASA develops high pressure ventilator for coronavirus patients in 37 days

New Delhi : Amid ongoing coronavirus pandemic across the world, the demand of good quality ventilators has shown a spike and latest to cater the need is NASA's high pressure ventilator which has been designed in less than 37 days.

These new ventilators have passed a critical test at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, which is where the epicenter of the virus is located in the United States.

According to NASA, the ventilator has been named VITAL that stands for Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally. It has been created by Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. VITAL can be used in patients with severe respiratory cases.

The space agency hopes that his will add up to the supply and reduce the pressure on companies in the business of manufacturing ventilators.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Director, Michael Watkins said that "We specialize in spacecraft, not medical-device manufacturing, 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."

JPL has dispatched a prototype of the machine to the Human Simulation Lab in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine in New York for more testing.

In comparison to the traditional ventilators, VITAL is easy to manufacture and maintain. These machines are also composed of fewer parts, and most of them are available to manufacturers through existing supply chains.