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“Now that we have a design, we are working to pass the baton to the medical community and ultimately to patients as quickly as possible,” said Fred Farina, director of innovation and corporate partnerships at Caltech.
The design offers some key benefits. NASA says it can be built faster and maintained more easily than traditional fans. It is made up of fewer parts, which are currently available through existing supply chains, and can be modified for use in field hospitals such as those being installed in convention centers. The device is designed to last three to four months, so it won’t replace the hospital’s current fans, but it could fill the critical shortage.
JPL does not typically design medical equipment, but in a video, several engineers expressed a desire to use their skills to help tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. This is part of a growing trend of technologists trying to meet the demand for fans. We’ve seen right-to-repair campaigns as well as fans made from Tesla gaming PC cases and parts. However, we have also learned that although manufacturing fans is relatively easy, manufacturing pivots to do so is more difficult.
“This fan is one of countless examples of how taxpayer investments in space exploration – the skills, experience, and knowledge gathered over decades of pushing boundaries and achieving early accomplishments for humanity – translate into breakthroughs that they improve life on Earth, “NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement.
