Give Now
img

KidsOR announce major project with NASA

News
Kids Operating Room to work with NASA to Bring Space-Age Tech to Life-Saving Surgery.


Kids Operating Room is absolutely delighted to announce a groundbreaking project with NASA—the leading authority in space technology.

Earlier this year, members of the KidsOR team connected with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and began exploring how our combined skillsets could potentially save lives in some of the world’s most resource-poor hospitals.

And now together, we’re tackling a critical healthcare challenge in some of the world’s lowest-resource settings: the lack of reliable access to oxygen.


The equipment undergoing testing at NASA.

The equipment undergoing testing at NASA.

The Oxygen Problem


In low and middle-income countries across the world, hospitals face a critical shortage of reliable oxygen. Without it, surgeries become life-threatening, and respiratory infections—which claimed over 500,000 young lives in 2021—often turn fatal.

For too many children, a lack of reliable, pure oxygen is a death sentence.


NASA’s M-COG: From Space to Surgery


So, how do you go about solving the issue of pure oxygen in LMIC surgical theatres, when problems with infrastructure, supply chains, power outages, and costs have historically made it close to impossible?

Enter NASA’s Medical Ceramic Oxygen Generator (M-COG).

Originally designed for space missions to the Moon and to Mars, this innovative technology produces medical-grade oxygen at 99.99% purity with minimal maintenance - making it ideal for hospitals in resource-poor settings where equipment failure isn’t an option.

This collaboration between KidsOR and NASA represents a huge leap forward in how the severe challenges of surgery in low and middle-income countries are tackled. It’s about finding the most advanced tech and using it where it can make a life-saving difference to the people we serve.

Testing and Beyond


We’re starting by testing the technology at our Centre for Global Operations in Dundee and hospitals in Zambia. If successful, M-COG will be rolled out across our surgical centres in 40 countries, providing a reliable oxygen supply for hospitals that desperately need it.

Garreth Wood, Co-Founder and Chairman of KidsOR, said: “This project with NASA has significant and life-changing potential for patients across low-resource settings. Access to surgery in low- and middle-income countries is incredibly challenging, particularly in those areas experiencing war, climate-related challenges, or civil unrest. I am extremely proud that our expertise in developing complex surgical facilities in low-resource settings, and training the local teams to independently sustain their own service, has made us the perfect organisation to work with NASA on this exciting research project."

John Graf, Engineer at NASA, added: “It is amazing to think that technology being developed to help get humans to Mars can help save lives along the way. While we at NASA often use established technology, the unique demands of space exploration sometimes require us to develop new solutions, which must be thoroughly tested on Earth first. The chance to explore how we deploy M-COG in hospitals for Kids Operating Room in low-income countries is a perfect example of this synergy.”

Share article

Be part of our world. Sign up to our newsletter to hear more.

I agree to the Privacy Policy

Disclaimer; This form will add users into the audience database for Kids Operating Room