NOAA, NASA begin age of Aquarius

NOAA, NASA begin age of Aquarius

  • By Susan M. Menke
  • Oct 12, 2004
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Aquarius habitat went live today 62 feet underwater off the Florida coast for an 11-day experiment in remote robotic telesurgery and spacelike maneuvers.

In cooperation with NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and several universities, the six-member habitat crew and a remote Canadian surgeon will operate commercial robotic medical equipment during the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operation 7 [see GCN story].

They communicate with mission control in Key Largo, Fla., about nine miles away, via videocams over a secure, 45-Mbps wireless point-to-point network. A high-grade, multiprotocol-label-switching virtual private network from Cisco Systems Inc. connects them to the Canadian physician.

Three of the NEEMO 7 crew are themselves physicians working on remote surgical methods for emergencies on the International Space Station and future space missions.
Dr. Bob Thirsk will practice endoscopic removal of a gallbladder from a simulated patient, with Canadian Dr. Mehran Anvari advising him remotely. Virtual-reality technology translates the doctors' hand movements to guide the surgical robot.

The mission webcams require use of ActiveX controls.

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