Orbital Medicine was awarded a NASA Phase 1 Omnibus grant just prior to the federal shutdown. The status of this award is in limbo, but if phase 2 is awarded it will provide development funds for continuation of the microgravity research pioneered by Orbital Medicine.
Orbital Medicine successfully completed a second flight campaign under the auspices of the NASA Flight Opportunities Grant. This flight campaign was undertaken in conjunction with the Reduced Gravity Flight Education Program.
It was exciting to see the pioneering work done by students at some of the United States top universities.
Orbital Medicine wishes to thank both the Flight Opportunities Program, Zero-G Corporation and the Reduced Gravity Office for the assistance in completing the successful research campaign.
The experimental results are being used to create the next generation research designs.
As a continuing effort to improve the value offered by Orbital Medicine, Dr Cuttino has completed the requirements and is now a certified FAA Aviation Medical Examiner.
Dr. Cuttino will be preforming Class 2 and Class 3 aviation medical exams at the Rockwell Physicians office in Midlothian, Virginia.
Orbital Medicine’s Dr. Marsh Cuttino leaves for sunny Houston, Texas for a flight week campaign supporting the Stanford Department of Electrical Engineering. Dr. Greg Kovacs and Dr. Richard Wiard will be testing their ballistocardiograph in microgravity aboard the NASA Reduced Gravity Office’s parabolic aircraft. The flight is supported by a grant through NASA’s flight opportunity program. We look forward to a great campaign!
Orbital Medicine has designed a patch for Dr. Kovacs’ October flights at his request. The patch is designed to showcase the Stanford colors and the cardiac electrophysiology that is going to be a portion of the research flight.
The flight patch designed by Orbital Medicine for the Stanford EE research flight.
Dr. Cuttino and the Orbital Medicine, Inc (Richmond, VA) team will be assisting Dr. Greg Kovacs and his team from the Stanford EE department in parabolic flight testing aboard the NASA RGO Parabolic Flight Research Aircraft the first week of October 2012. Dr Cuttino is serving as the medical team lead and consultant, as well as supervising the IRB process for the experiment. The experiment is to evaluate a ballistocardiograph in the microgravity environment and was awarded a NASA Flight Opportunities Grant.
This will be the second Parabolic Microgravity Flight Campaign for Orbital Medicine in 2012.
Orbital Medicine had a successful field test of the prototype structure for a medical chest drainage device today. The flight test took place from Ellington Field, TX with the NASA Reduced Gravity Office. Flown on the Zero G 727-200 parabolic aircraft, the device was tested under lunar and zero gravity conditions. The first tested configurations successfully separated the simulated blood from the air under both gravity conditions and would provide an effective treatment of a pneumothorax in an emergency.
Further flight testing on additional configurations will continue through the end of the week. Two flight are planned for Thursday, weather permitting.
Due to significant weather in Houston the flight today has been scrubbed. Double flights are planned for tomorrow due to an improved forecast
The Orbital Medicine research project has passed the NASA flight readiness review and has been loaded on the Zero G corporation 727-200 in the flight configuration. Should the weather hold out with a visible horizon tomorrow the chest tube drainage system will have it’s maiden microgravity flight thanks to NASA Flight Opportunities and the NASA Reduced Gravity Office.
Dr. Cuttino will be joined by Dr. Shawn Borich, and Dr. Greg Kovacs on the flight tomorrow. Ground support will be by Richard Wiard.
With the flight manifested I decided to celebrate the completion and submission of the Test Equipment Data Package with converting the mission art into a patch. There is a long history in aerospace of having patches associated with projects. The projects contain a visual symbolism that helps build the team and provides a visual shortcut to the essentials of the project.
Prototype of the Mission PatchThe Orbital Medicine patch shows a black caduceus on a blue background. The caduceus is a commonly recognized symbol of the medical profession. The blue background represents the sky, and the black of the caduceus represents the darkness of space. It is surrounded by the company name and the phrase “Microgravity Operations” in reference to the zero gravity research done by the company.
To the right are icons representing the Earth, Moon, and Mars in a receding arrangement. This symbolizes the current and future targets for human spaceflight, and the areas in which space medicine will provide the support for human exploration.
To the left is a yellow symbol of a human electrocardiogram – the representation of a human heartbeat. It is placed to the left as that is the side of the body where the human heart is located. It represents the importance of medical monitoring, evaluation and treatment performed by the medical profession during medical flight operations. It is surrounded by a stylized constellation Libra, that represents the balance that medical operations have to take between the safety and treatment of humans, and the capabilities and mission requirements. It also represents the balancing act that physicians do when treating patients, and reminds us of the Hippocratic Oath “Above all, do no harm.”
At the bottom right of the caduceus is a stethoscope head, which curls into the exhaust of the stylized space ship launching to the top of the patch. The combining of the stethoscope and exhaust plume represent the ground based medical operations performed in support of flight operations.
The gold star in the center of the patch symbolizes the phrase “sic itur ad astra” translated “thus you shall go to the stars”. This phrase originated with the Latin writer Virgil, and comes from his book the Aeneid, book IX line 641. The phrase is commonly used in the space community to represent the dedication and aspirations of those involved in the space program to ensure humanity’s access to space.
Stay tuned, and “Ad Astra”!