Telemedicine and Health

The rapid rise of telemedicine has been one of the key areas for space-enabled services, with both the public and professionals aiming to minimize face-to-face contact due to COVID-19.

The pandemic gave additional impetus to the development and provision of telemedicine solutions that exploit space assets to enable remote diagnosis and treatment, reducing risk and time for patients and medical professionals, and providing essential services for remote areas.

In one early example, a transportable diagnostics laboratory, developed at the University of Louvain in Belgium with ESA’s support and previously used during an Ebola outbreak in Guinea in 2014-2015, was sent to Italy to be used to test key workers for COVID-19. The B-LiFE lab (Biological Light Fieldable Laboratory for Emergencies) uses satellite communications, EO data and geo-positioning to enable real-time transmission of analytical results, communication with remote experts, transfer of large datasets and real-time epidemiological mapping.

© B-Life

In Spain, Tempus telemedicine devices were loaned by ESA to triage and treat patients in Barcelona, having originally been developed for commercial airlines and then upgraded for use by medical professionals, such as those on air ambulances in the UK. These two units are usually used at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre to assess the condition of astronauts when they return to Earth. Separately, a French ultrasound system designed by AdEchoTech with ESA’s support enabled the diagnosis of patients by remotely located experts, who could move the probe around in real time using a joystick.

eHealth platforms also became valuable during the pandemic. In response to COVID-19, the Government of Luxembourg gave free access to its SATMED solution to selected health organizations. This included teleradiology and teleconsultation services, geographical tracking and management, and hospital information systems. The pandemic also acted as a catalyst for some companies supported by the ESA BICs across Europe to accelerate their development schedules or pursue new applications for their technologies:

• Belgian company HeartKinetics sped up development of its

Kinocardiograph (Kino) home testing device, which provides an accurate overview of both the heart’s electrical/rhythm function and its mechanical function.

• Portuguese start-up Delox, which is developing sterilization products based on hydrogen peroxide vapour for use in space and on Earth, set up project REUSE to design and build a transportable chamber for biodecontamination of up to 200 pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE).

• German company Terraplasma Medical is developing an intensive care device for mechanically ventilated patients that is based on the longest-running experiment on the International Space Station, using cold plasma technology to stop SARS-

CoV-2 (the virus responsible for the

COVID-19 disease) moving from a patient’s upper respiratory tract into the lungs.