medicine can only help those in need if
it can reach them on earth or in space
NASA's telemedicine space bridge lets us
doctors consult with Russian clinicians
thousands of miles away to demonstrate
the feasibility of live two-way full
bandwidth video as a medical tool the
space bridge relies on the engineering
skills of one of the country's leading
communications facilities NASA Lewis
Research Center in Cleveland Ohio NASA
Lewis was asked to function as the
Gateway to the telemedicine space bridge
project due to its past history in
satellite communications through the
successes of the 80s and a CTS flight
projects Lewis demonstrated itself as a
leading pioneer in satellite
communications nasa and the Joint
Working Group on space biology and
medicine which established the protocol
that led to the current project saw this
as an opportunity to use Lewis's
expertise and satellite communications
to get the space bridge up and running
NASA's interest in telemedicine dates to
the early days of the space program
while the focus of NASA's pioneering
work was the help of its astronauts
Talon medicine also became a means of
delivering medical care and education
too remote to rest real areas as well
NASA's current space bridge project will
help standardize in-flight medical
procedures and demonstrate the use of
satellites for long distance medical
care because of the distances between
the participating sites are so great two
satellites are used to provide coverage
to all sites the two satellites are
linked together here at Lewis using two
satellite ground stations which are
connected back to back we call these two
stations the gateway station in Moscow
to Cleveland link uses the Russian wsd
RN satellite also known as
and for distribution here at within the
u.s. we use GT e--'s g-star to satellite
all satellite links are scrambled to
protect patient confidentiality at Lewis
information is relayed between the two
earth stations via fiber-optic cable in
Moscow the satellite signal is relayed
to Moscow Hospital language translation
for both us and Russian doctors is done
on-site in Moscow inaugurated in
December 1993 by the US Senate and
Moscow officials the space bridge
project had its origin in the Armenian
and Aoife disasters of the late 80s the
earthquake into bleezy Armenia leveled
several mountain villages killing and
injuring thousands while causing
millions of dollars in damages the
Armenian medical community was strained
to its limits a gas explosion and
railroad accident in fo only a few
months later also overburdened local
medical facilities international aid in
ova anta bleezy was highlighted by a
one-way video link with us doctors who
modified dozens of on-site diagnosis the
remarkable success of those projects led
the way for the current space bridge
with a total of twenty-two sessions from
the fall of nineteen ninety three
through the summer of nineteen
ninety-four the space bridge explored of
broad range of sub specialties including
space medicine and decompression
sickness
through the engineering expertise of
NASA Lewis Research Center the value of
satellite technology as a long distance
medical and educational tool is being
proven because of that future medical
care will reach remote areas experts
will be able to consult with few
limitations because of that tomorrow's
astronauts will be better cared for
because of that tomorrow's people will
be better cared for