NASA Will Test Using Drones to Speed Up Organ Donor Distribution

NASA, through the Langley Research Center, has partnered with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). In this cooperation, NASA will test the delivery of organ transplants with drones.

Through this collaboration, the two institutions are trying to find a faster transportation solution. The reason is, the faster the organs needed are delivered to the hospital, the faster the patient's life can be saved.

NASA will evaluate the performance of the drone in carrying highly sensitive medical organs. To ensure that organs remain safe during flight, the US space agency will utilize advanced sensing technology and safety systems.

The first trial will be carried out at NASA's Langley CERTAIN facility with a long-distance flight scenario beyond visual range. With this ability, researchers can simulate real-world conditions without requiring ground surveillance.

"This is an opportunity to apply NASA Langley technology to a real-world problem that can save the lives of people waiting for transplants," said NASA Langley's Director of Aeronautics Research, John Koelling, on Wednesday, April 22.

In the testing phase, NASA will use animal organs. Later, experts will examine the condition of the organs to assess their transplant feasibility. These conditions include temperature stability and the potential for tissue damage due to shock or travel duration.

If the initial testing is successful, the operational scale of the drone will be expanded. This will help researchers determine whether drones are really worth becoming a new standard in medical delivery that requires high timeliness.