NASA wanted a team of doctors and a hospital laboratory for spaceflight.
rHealth addressed this with a suite of innovations.
For the ultimate demonstration, NASA launched this to space…
rHEALTH: How It Works
The rHEALTH® instrument and SKYE sensor provide comprehensive analytical information for blood and vitals. An individual, even an astronaut crew member, can perform full self diagnosis without technical training.
The SKYE sensor is affixed to the chest and sends real-time vitals data via Bluetooth. The user collects a single drop of blood in a consumable and inserts it into a reader. Once inside the rHEALTH® reader, our microfluidic technology perform dilution, mixing, and complete sample prep. Inside specific channels, both cells and analyte-specific nanostrips flow past lasers that interrogate the cells and nanostrips via fluorescence and light scattering. Quantitation of cells and analytes happen within microseconds. And in minutes, thousands of events are recorded, referenced to calibrators, and then finally communicated to the user via Bluetooth.
NASA Launches rHEALTH Blood Analyzer to International Space Station
rHEALTH ONE small volume blood analyzer arrived at International Space Station on Feb. 21.
Bedford, MA, February 22, 2022. rHEALTH, announced today that NASA has successfully launched its rHEALTH ONE blood analyzer to space on NASA Commercial Resupply Mission NG-17. The rHEALTH ONE was carried to the International Space Station (ISS) via the NG-17 Cygnus spacecraft, launched by a Northrop Grumman Antares Rocket. The rocket was successfully launched off the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) Pad 0A on Wallops Island, Virginia, shortly after noon on February 19. The path to the space station included a two-stage rocket launch, with the first stage being approximately three and half minutes, a second-stage burn for two and a half minutes, and then a 2 day transit to the ISS.
The rHEALTH ONE is a universal biomedical analyzer which can analyze a diversity of biomedical analytes from a small drop (8 microliters) of blood, urine, swabs, or other biological fluids. The capabilities of the rHEALTH technology spans a breadth of assay classes, including cell counts, chemistry, small molecules, biomarkers, and nucleic acids. In space, lack of medical assistance, confined environments and real-time communications can exacerbate the challenges in responding to medical emergencies. There is a real and pressing need to obtain medical and research diagnostic information quickly and easily for long-duration space travel. NASA’s aim for the technology is to further advance its readiness by showing operation in a real space-environment and provide real terrestrial benefits for all of us.
Present at the launch, Eugene Chan MD, CEO and inventor of the rHEALTH technology said, “This is a marvel of a long collaboration with NASA. The device is designed to provide both comprehensive health information for astronauts while travelling to Mars and accessible autonomous health for all on Earth.”
The technology will be operated by NASA astronauts for the technology demonstration in the coming months.
About rHEALTH
rHEALTH is a company focused on the development and commercialization of its Your Health, AnywhereTM technology. The rHEALTH blood sensor is the subject of multiple XPRIZE awards, NASA contracts, and over a dozen issued patents. For more information, visit www.rhealth.com.