What would be better than to have world-class space scientists and engineers design state-of-the-art medical equipment in the midst of a pandemic that needs solely that?
Before January 2020, when society truly fell into the clutches of Covid-19, the space industry was evaluated at a staggering $375 billion USD. Most countries had their operations planned out: The Roscosmos, NASA, China’s National Space Administration, ISRO, ESA, and the German Aerospace all planned on releasing rockets or probes into outer space. So far only SpaceX has broken through, after successfully launching their crewed Dragon 2 on May 30th (IST), which made headlines everywhere, while the Solar Orbiter that is en-route the sun is in standby mode.
Space scientists and rocket engineers have consistently worn protective equipment and used sanitation methods for instruments and spacecraft operators in clean rooms. With the help of frontier technologies astronauts have been able to fabricate tools which assist the manufacture of surgical tools and machines here on Earth. Namely, NASA has developed an oxygen hood that protects healthcare workers from infection while providing Covid-19 patients with the necessary oxygen pressure.
Moreover, ISRO has pivoted its current resources to develop hand sanitizers and ventilators, while simultaneously slowly pursuing the Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya missions. It was also established by ISRO’s chairman that a study is in progress for the Mangalyaan-2 and Shukrayaan missions, with employees researching from home. Aditya-L1, a probe that was meant to launch this year in April and was ISRO's first planned probe to study the Sun's corona and its atmosphere, and Shukrayaan, which was intended to be an orbiter mission to study the atmosphere of Venus, are both postponed. 4 Indian cosmonauts are also currently undergoing staggered training in Russia for the impending manned Gaganyaan mission that is now set to launch in 2022, confirmed by the Roscosmos. India also aims to conduct microgravity tests on its own ISS- India’s Space Station- which is scheduled to be in a geosynchronous orbit by 2030 that will be an extension of the manned mission.
However, satellites like the INSAT are already in place as a part of India’s telemedicine programme and aiding the population by linking healthcare centres in rural areas with speciality hospitals in cities, which is considered as an important element in the fight against Covid-19.
Writer: Ariya Gupta
11/06/2020
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