They Came from Outer Space

By Sue Lorraine Lavorata

Many of us don’t realize the number of technologies developed by the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that have substantially improved the lives of people with disabilities. Some of these "space spinoffs" might not have even been developed, had it not been for the American space program and the research of its scientists.

Many such spinoffs in the field of medicine and assistive devices for people with disabilities came about because of studies on astronauts’ bodily systems in microgravity and on long space flights and in planetary research. Such research was conducted during the Apollo, Skylab and space shuttle missions. In addition, with the development of the international space station and the Russian space station Mir, research on the human anatomy in space becomes crucial.

In studying the effects of motor coordination and muscular/neurological systems of astronauts during long periods in space, NASA scientists and doctors realized how microgravity can result in muscle atrophy without the right exercise. This research is helpful in determining how to keep astronauts as physically fit as possible so that their productivity is optimal.

Automatically, these researchers have begun using much of this information here on earth, particularly for people with disabilities. For example, NASA developed the gait analysis system, a diagnostic tool for people with difficulty walking. This system was a direct spinoff of the study of biotelemetry for such applications as monitoring astronaut vital and neurological functioning from the ground.

NASA uses telemetry by collecting data from orbiting satellites, relayed to earth. Here, coded signals are sent by radio and decoded on the ground. There are many applications of telemetry, but in this case it is the monitoring of astronaut functioning. The spinoff, used to diagnose walking disabilities, assesses people with neurological developmental disabilities such as cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy, or other disabilities or injuries that affect the nervous system, causing muscular spasticity and loss of coordination.

From personal experience with my own such disabilities, I know it is often very difficult to determine coordination problems solely from a physical examination because muscles vary widely. Therefore, through a process called electromyography, which is the recording of electrical activity in the muscles, physicians can identify the affected muscles and prescribe treatment. Such research would not be possible without space research.

This space-derived invention of the gait analysis telemetry system emerged as a cooperative development between NASA, the Children’s Hospital at Stanford, Palo Alto, California, and L&M Electronics Inc., Daly City, California. This is a wireless system that registers detailed information on a patient’s leg muscle action during walking tests with the use of sensors and transmitters.

This system is now also being used in a research program at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Rehabilitation Research and Developmental Center, Palo Alto, to investigate the possibility of restoring locomotion to people with spinal cord injuries and significant gait disabilities.

Another spinoff that would not have been possible without the space program is the Programmable Remapper for people with low vision. The Remapper is a technical transfer of a NASA program aimed at developing an image processor to simplify, speed up and improve the accuracy of pattern recognition in video imaging. This image processor was needed to solve problems associated with automated spacecraft tracking/docking and autonomous planetary landings. It was drawn up by the Tracking and Communications Division of the Johnson Space Center and Texas Instruments.

During its development, the Remapper’s potential for application to people with low vision was quickly apparent, and NASA’s Technology Utilization Office, which specializes in creating spinoff applications, provided funds to conduct vision-related research. The Remapper is now being adapted as a prosthesis for people who have certain types of low vision. NASA had the technology and was already working on vision and communication issues because of the imagery work studied in planetary research.

"Talking maps" are another space spinoff for people with visual disabilities. The user who is blind carries the technology around on the streets like a walkman. The map relies on satellite signals to inform people exactly where they are.

A device which provides visual cues for people who are deaf was developed by Joseph Resnick and one of NASA’s six Regional Technology Transfer Centers (RTTC). In this case, it was NASA that helped to collaborate the invention.

Steve Roper was a young boy born without sweat glands, who could not play outdoor sports for fear of heat stroke. During a visit with his aunt, Sara Moody, Steve became overheated while riding in an air-conditioned car. His cousin subsequently saved him by spotting a lawn hose and hosing him down. The incident prompted Sara to contact NASA’s Langley Research Center, which put her in touch with Life Support Systems, Inc. (LSSI), a NASA contractor and manufacturer of personal cooling gear.

With the help and funding of NASA, LSSI manufactured a child-size "cool suit," spun off from the cool suits used by astronauts. Now, thanks to the space program, Steve can play baseball with his friends and participate outside in all of the activities that most boys his age enjoy. LSSI also manufactures the cool suit for adults with multiple sclerosis.

NASA fully funded a cooperation program to develop a wheelchair using aerospace composite materials, thus making the chair more aerodynamic and durable. NASA’s Langley Research Center teamed with the University of Virginia Rehabilitation Engineering Center. The National Institute of Handicapped Research first employed aerospace computerized structural analysis techniques in order to arrive at an optimal wheelchair design. It constructed a prototype made of aerospace materials that are lighter, with the same strength and weight-bearing capability as heavier chairs. Also, this wheelchair can be stowed away more easily and is much easier to operate.

The Chemo-cooler is a brand name for a device developed out of the Johnson Space Center, which was a spinoff from the cooling system from the astronaut space suit. This cooling device brings down the temperature of the scalp for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatments. It is the heat from the chemotherapy that causes hair loss in many of these individuals, and the Chemo-cooler restores about 20 per cent of the hair normally lost during such treatments.

NASA also joins the crusade for breast cancer research. According to Dan Goldin, NASA Administrator, NASA has signed an agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services enlisting NASA technologies to fight breast cancer and other women’s illnesses that can be very debilitating and disabling. NASA Ames Research Center in Moffit Field, California, and the Office on Women’s Health will identify, develop and transfer NASA technologies to benefit women’s health and to prevent many female-related disabilities. The areas of major concern are breast and cervical cancer and osteoporosis.

The technologies demonstrated included the new robotic "Smart Surgical Probe," technology to allow three-dimensional "planning" for breast reconstruction and prosthetics, as is currently done for facial reconstructive surgery. NASA is also working on a device to predict a woman’s specific risk of contracting osteoporosis. Women with mobility disabilities as well as those who lack calcium in their diet are especially at risk due to weak bones and muscles.

At a luncheon sponsored by the Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues, NASA astronaut, Mary Ellen Weber, Ph.D., explained how NASA efforts to grow human cells and tissues in space help researchers understand cancer as well as the response of the human immune system. Dr. Carolyn Krebs of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, explained how technology allowing the Hubble Telescope to map distant stars is being used in doctors’ offices today to detect small tumors in breast tissue in their early stages, using a needle instead of surgery for a biopsy. (For more information on NASA’s role in women’s health, check out the website, http://www.nasa.gov/today/index.html.)

Biofeedback used in aerospace technology for controlling airplanes, helicopters and by NASA trainers has been acknowledged to have potential for people with disabilities so significant they would otherwise be unable to control their wheelchairs. This type of biofeedback might allow a person with limited body movement to be able to move his or her wheelchair. Without such technology, he or she is dependent on a personal assistant for mobility.

It is quite evident that the space program has played a tremendous role in improving the lives of many people with disabilities. Many spinoffs would not have been developed without the help of the space program, its resources and technology.

An annual publication called "Spinoff," which highlights some of NASA’s space spinoffs, is produced by the Technology Utilization Office, the NASA department responsible for technology transfers from aerospace to societal use. A great NASA website for more information on spinoffs can be found at http://www.hctm.hq.nasa.gov.

(Sue Lorraine Lavorata, MBA, is an adjunct college teacher of business and lecturer of space program applications and disability rights. She is the President/Founder of Suffolk Challengers for Space, NSS Chapter, and lives in Babylon, New York, U.S.A.)