Nasa and Virgin Galactic team up to help health workers fight coronavirus

Virgin Galactic announced on Monday that it has signed an agreement with Nasa to develop innovative solutions to the problems facing healthcare workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.

Under the deal, Virgin Galactic and the Spaceship Company have been developing and testing the PPB Hood, designed to provide Covid-19 sufferers with portable oxygen-rich pressure chambers, reducing the need for ventilator intubation.

The team is on track to produce 400 PPB Hoods at the Final Assembly, Integration and Test Hangar in Mojave.

The products will be made available to the Antelope Valley Hospital in California.

Virgin Galactic is also looking to conduct further testing at the Bartlett Community Hospital in Juneau, Alaska.

The assembly line is made up of 12 workstations, each hosting a step in the fabrication process and manned by one of 20 volunteers from a team of Nasa Armstrong and TSC workers.

The team was supported by another group of volunteers involved in design, and procuring materials and tools.

“During the current global crisis, we believe that the space industry has a responsibility to share expertise, knowledge, resources, and ingenuity to aid in the fight against Covid-19," George Whitesides, chief executive of Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company, said on Monday.

"That’s why today we are proud to share that Virgin Galactic is meeting this responsibility head-on through a Space Act Agreement with Nasa.”

Virgin Galactic, TSC, Nasa and the Antelope Valley Hospital team, have also been working on a project to develop and build negative pressure enclosures that cover a patient on a hospital bed.

These are designed to protect medical staff by containing infected air and filtering it so that it does not contaminate the room.

The team has tested the enclosures and are adding minor modifications before reviewing options for authorisation from the US Food and Drug Adminstration and wider testing.

“The work Nasa employees are doing in California is one of several examples of how the agency is contributing to the whole-of-government response to coronavirus,” Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine said.

“By channelling the unique skillset of our workforce and engaging with private and public partners, we can make a difference in communities such as the Antelope Valley and nationwide.”

Dr Daniel Khodabakhsh of the Antelope Valley Hospital said the hoods and negative pressure enclosures would save lives and keep healthcare workers from falling sick amid the pandemic.

“We in the AV Hospital Emergency Room are grateful and have also been inspired as we have worked on the development of equipment that can help others across the world,” Dr Khodabakhsh said.