The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been planning on sending human in Mars very soon. With the initiative, the space agency is working with high-end possible necessities that humans will be needing when they are sent to the Red Planet.
Aside from studying the effectiveness of medicines in outer space where there is a hypothesis that space drugs will not work, NASA came up with a hi-tech gauze that could heal physical wounds.
Working On with the Technology
According to NASA, they are planning to send human to Mars in the 2030s. Astronauts will collect and study rocks and while in the midst of doing their routine activities, one of the crew meet an accident. With the new polymer technology, it could help the wounds of the said astronaut to heal faster.
This electric gauze, which has been tested with athletes on Earth, showed a good result. However, considering the possibility of experiencing gravitational changes on the planet that might affect the blood circulation, the said medical device might not work well or it might not work at all.
How Does it Work?
"What we have here is a technology that can have a large impact on wound healing of all sorts," said NASA's Langley Research Center Senior Material Scientist Emilie Siochi. "What's unique about this material is that it's electroactive -- meaning that if you warm it up if you push on it, if you apply any load on it, even if you just blow on it -- it actually generates voltage." The device can actually work with just the patient's body temperature.
Siochi also mentioned that the apparatus's voltage can be applied while a syringe ejects polymer that creates a fiber. In their early research, with proper alignment of the fibers to the wound, the cells use this as a framework in helping the patient's wound to heal faster.
"The new apparatus provides a simple and inexpensive means of producing fibers and mats of controlled fiber diameter, porosity, and thickness," NASA said in a post.
