Future of surgery: Surgeons perform remote-controlled operation on ISS successfully

In a groundbreaking achievement, surgeons have, for the first time, remotely operated a compact robot on the International Space Station (ISS) to perform a surgical procedure in orbit.

This pioneering operation, conducted over the recent weekend and reported by AFP, was performed on rubber bands instead of live tissue. The experiment is hailed as a monumental leap forward in the field of space surgery technology, marking it as a crucial development for addressing medical emergencies on prolonged space missions, like those planned for Mars.

The potential benefits of this technology extend beyond space, offering a promising solution for conducting surgeries in remote or isolated regions on Earth through remote-controlled operations.

The surgery was carried out using a robot named spaceMIRA, a collaborative creation by Virtual Incision (VIC) and the University of Nebraska. Launched to the ISS on a SpaceX rocket at January’s end, spaceMIRA’s compact design allowed it to be housed in a small box comparable in size to a microwave oven.

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, stationed on the ISS since the previous September, was responsible for setting up the robot last Thursday, facilitating this historic surgical procedure in space.