NASA, Organ Sharing Network UNOS to Study Faster Organ Transport

Every second counts in the life-saving world of medical transplants. To address this emergency, NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, is partnering with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) to explore faster and more reliable ways to transport donor organs using advanced aviation technologies.

NASA Langley and UNOS will collaborate under a new Space Act agreement announced during a ceremony Tuesday at UNOS headquarters in Richmond, Virginia.

The partnership brings together NASA’s expertise in aeronautical research and UNOS’s role at the center of the U.S. transplant network. UNOS is a nonprofit organization that manages part of the nation’s organ donation and transplantation system under contract with the federal government and has a long history of supporting innovation across the system.

While organs are routinely transported between cities by plane, ground logistics can present pressing problems, particularly in congested or difficult-to-access areas. Through this agreement, NASA will apply its aeronautical expertise and flight research capabilities to evaluate whether drones can help reduce these delays, improve delivery times and potentially improve medical outcomes.

“This is an opportunity to apply NASA Langley technology to a real-world problem that can save the lives of people waiting for a transplant,” said John Koelling, director of the Aeronautics Research Directorate at NASA Langley. “There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing your technical work have a positive impact on people’s lives. »

The collaboration focuses on identifying key challenges related to organ transportation and how tools developed by NASA, such as advanced modeling, flight planning, sensing technologies and safety systems, can help. It allows UNOS and NASA to design research that meets medical standards.

The work also includes evaluating the performance of drones when transporting sensitive biological materials in realistic environments. The first test will be conducted using NASA Langley’s City Environment Range Testing for Autonomous Integrated Navigation (CERTAIN), which provides a unique capability to safely fly drones in real-world conditions beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) without the need for ground observers. This capability allows researchers to explore longer-distance and more complex delivery scenarios that better reflect the time-sensitive nature of organ transport.

After initial flight evaluations, an organ tested in animals will be evaluated to determine whether it remains viable for transplantation, including evaluating factors such as temperature stability and potential tissue damage caused by a lack of blood flow.

“The idea that something globally beneficial could be created in our own backyard is pretty exciting,” Koelling said.

For NASA, the agreement demonstrates how technologies developed for aviation and space can directly benefit people on Earth. For UNOS, this partnership reflects its commitment to exploring innovative solutions to strengthen the organ donation and transplantation system.

If initial drone testing proves successful, the partnership could expand to further evaluate operational feasibility and scalability, helping to determine whether drones could become a viable option for time-sensitive medical deliveries.

“It’s great that we’ve made real progress in research that is paving the way for lifesaving measures using drones,” said Lena Pascale, regional partnerships manager at NASA Langley’s Office of Strategic Partnerships.

As this collaboration progresses, it highlights how NASA Langley’s research and expertise could revolutionize the medical transplantation process, have a lasting impact on patient care and save lives.

Kimiko Booker
NASA Langley Research Center