Tomorrow, NASA will run an undersea telesurgery experiment at the Aquarius laboratory 19 meters down in Key Largo, Florida. The robot surgeon, operating on a dummy patient, will be controlled remotely by a physician in Canada. The aim is to explore how astronauts aboard the International Space Station could go under the knife in case of emergency. From a New Scientist report:
"The Aquarius is a very good analogue for the space station," says (surgeon Tim) Broderick. Just as in space, he says, it can take time to get a patient back to solid ground when they need emergency surgery underwater. "They have to decompress for a day before they can come up," he says.
