Performing surgery in space isn’t easy, but three Stillwater High School seniors are working to change that.
Jace Brown, Zane Miller, Miles Johnston and Zane Miller, STEM Academy students, let their imaginations run wild when they took part in NASA Hunch, a project-based program at Meridian Technology Center.
The three seniors will now travel to Houston to compete with more than 2,500 high-school students on April 19.
NASA engineers continue to find ways to meet the challenges of living in the International Space Station, and they’ve enlisted high school students to help them – posing real-life problems for students — who then find solutions.
“Working with mentors from the Johnson Space Center to develop solutions for problems that astronauts have identified for the International Space Station is preparing our students for their future careers as engineers,” said STEM Academy instructor Debbie Short.
Three seniors decided to do a capstone that involved solving the problem of how to perform space surgery.
“Eventually, there’s going to be a need to do surgery as they’re up there for longer or (for) any complications that happen,” Miller said.
But getting stainless steel surgical tools in space – such as tweezers and hemostats – is harder than it seems. The obstacles to success include time, money, and weight.
The surgical tools need to be sterilized, reusable and durable – just like stainless steel surgical tools. They must be 3D printable.
While some tools need to be a certain thickness, others can be made more rigid. A prototype from the early days of surgery could be used, even though it is thinner than later ones.
The I.S.S.’s filament printer is located on the right. A spool of filament is made from a carbon fiber or infused polyester. The nylon melts, and a nozzle moves backward and forth. This builds the tools layer by layer.
“As that goes on, you can actually see the layers,” Johnston said. “Layer by layer, it builds it up.”
As they worked together, they found that there was an 80 percent weight reduction in making surgical tools this way – and astronauts could print any tool they would need instead of taking tools with them that they may not use.
The team collaborated to decide whether to sterilize printed tools or to recycle them. All in all, four sterilization methods were tested by the team.
“Recycling is pretty expensive and energy consuming,” Johnston said. “UV light is the best way to sterilize because they already have a UV light sterilization.”
The three SHS students have known each other for six years, so they knew working together wouldn’t be an issue. Johnston was the team manager, Brown the lab research lead, and Miller the engineer lead.
“We were on a baseball trip when we found out that we won,” Brown said. “We were freaking out. Everyone on the team was wondering why we were running around and calling people.”
MTC was presented with the team’s work by the team in December. However, the work was also presented to a NASA engineer in Feb.
Throughout the project, the students had regular virtual meetings with the NASA engineers who guided them and gave clarity on what works or doesn’t work in space.
For example, choosing an alcohol bath to sterilize the tools seems right since it’s commonly used at doctors’ offices, but that is not the case.
“We didn’t know until they told us that they can’t have any flammable materials at the International Space Station because it could cause hazards,” Johnston said.
The team chose to test its hypotheses with sample surgeries, dissecting a cow’s eye and a sheep’s heart to see if the surgical tools would hold up against the rigors of space.
“We got to record all of it to show off the effectiveness of our tools to NASA,” Brown said.
The NASA Hunch program has multiple projects with multiple levels, but with 3D projects, there’s only one winning team – and Brown, Miller and Johnston were the top team in the nation.
They plan to study at Oklahoma State University, where they will pursue careers in microbiology or aerospace engineering. They’re still in awe that they were chosen to compete in the program.
“They could actually use our project on the internet and in future space missions,” Johnston said.