Stars foretell medical marvels

Engineering for space travel is solving health problems for us on earth.

If man hadn’t gone to the moon, life on earth just wouldn’t be the same — literally. Many of the materials and appliances we now take for granted would not exist if space programmes hadn’t demanded them. Handheld vacuum cleaners, home alarms, smoke detectors, cordless power tools, high-performance brakes and flat TVs are just a few of the ways in which engineering for space travel has made us safer and more comfortable on our own planet.

And healthier? Health care has been revolutionised by space travel. A spaceship is a closed system. Everything essential must be efficiently stored on board — health supplies as much as safety and housekeeping equipment. Some are straightforward: for example, exercise machines which help astronauts reduce muscle loss in weightlessness, on earth serve in physical therapy and athletics training.

Most health advantages, however, are unexpected by-products of space technology: such as body CAT scanners that grew out of equipment used to check invisible flaws in aerospace components. Chips developed for the Hubble space telescope turned out to help in producing extremely accurate digital breast biopsies which could differentiate between benign and malignant tumours.

A material used in space suits eventually appeared in athletic shoe soles. Good shoes make for a safer workout. A chemical process developed by NASA led to dialysis machines, which help people who have lost their kidney function live near-normal lives.

Thanks to a special bonding process, also developed by NASA, spectacle lenses can be coated with a film of hard carbon to make them scratch-resistant and water-repellent. Other NASA spinoffs include laser angioplasty, which uses “cool” lasers to clear arterial blockages; using ultrasound to determine how bad skin burns are; voice-controlled wheelchairs; and much else.

Indian Space Research Organisation uses its satellites for telemedicine, which allows rural or remote health centres to access super-specialised medical advice from major city hospitals. Ultimately the impact of space travel on medicine is more profound than these few specific cases. Like a spaceship, our planet is also a closed system. Learning to use the earth’s resources efficiently will produce benefits in every field, including health.