NASA VITAL Ventilators Get FDA Approval To Fight COVID-19

As the coronavirus pandemic continued sweeping across the globe, NASA put a halt on its usual space-related activities and began developing a prototype ventilator to help combat the deadly virus. The newly developed ventilator has just received emergency approval from the US Food and Drug Administration or FDA.

NASA VITAL Gets FDA Approval

The new NASA ventilator or VITAL was developed by engineers at the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to help deal with the dropping supply of traditional ventilators for COVID-19 patients suffering from respiratory distress. Here, VITAL expands to Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally.

The NASA VITAL project was developed under the Emergency Use authorization and the engineers developed a prototype in just 31 days. Recalling, the tea tested the machine on April 21 and awaited the approval for mass production. Getting FDA approval is indeed a milestone achievement for NASA, especially in times of crisis.

"This ventilator is one of the 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," NASA chief Jim Bridenstine in a statement.

How Does NASA VITAL Help?

The VITAL ventilator is one of the several devices developed by the premier space agency to help fight the deadly virus. VITAL has a couple of key advantages over traditional ventilators. For one, it can be built faster and maintained more easily than traditional ventilators.

"Also, it's composed of far fewer parts, many of which are currently available to potential manufacturers through existing supply chains," NASA said. The device can also be modified for use in field hospitals, like those in some convention centers and hotels across the country, the agency explained.

Additionally, NASA VITAL ventilator is designed to last up to four months, a bonus in times of health emergencies and supply cut-offs. At the same time, it should be noted that the new ventilator is certainly not a replacement for dedicated traditional, hospital ventilators, which are required in extreme cases of patient health deterioration.