Virgin Orbit helps to defeat COVID 19

Humanity is faced with another global epidemic and has joined forces in the fight against a dangerous disease — Covid-19. In addition to state support and volunteer assistance to doctors, businesses also stood up to protect health. Aerospace company Virgin Orbit has provided a clear example of how advanced technology can help combat the pandemic.

What Is the Danger of Covid?

As you know, the dangerous virus infects the respiratory system. The most common symptom is viral, bacterial, or mixed pneumonia, which can vary in severity. The severe form is fraught with low saturation when enough oxygen cannot enter the lungs, so the patient begins to choke and develops hypoxia. This is where mechanical lungs ventilators come to the rescue. However, health systems in many countries have been unable to cope with the massive influx of patients. The shortage of ventilators has become a serious problem around the world.

How Can Bridge Ventilator Help

Last spring, Virgin Orbit partnered with the Bridge ventilator Consortium to help medical experts at the University of California, Irvine, and the University of Texas at Austin develop a ventilator. Dr. Brian J. F. Wong, associate director of the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of California, noted the importance of the project in saving lives and the need to get a new ventilator as soon as possible.

Virgin Orbit’s goal was to create a machine with easily accessible components. That is why the final Virgin Orbit ventilator design features a motor from a conventional windshield wiper. The company used its engineering and manufacturing capabilities to quickly design the device, test prototypes, and start mass production. As a result, in the first months of the project, more than 600 Virgin Orbit ventilators were delivered to hospitals and medical centers in California. Also, Bridge ventilator Consortium shared the development (free of charge) with Invictus Holdings for establishing a mass production in South Africa.

The system can be used to treat moderate respiratory distress that affects most COVID-19 patients. This allows reserving more complex ventilators for patients with severe forms of the disease.

The development has been highly acclaimed in the medical field. The Virgin Orbit ventilator was presented at a special exhibition at the California Science Center.

Virgin Orbit — Save the Planet to Conquer Space

Today, thanks to the joint efforts of doctors, business, the public, and the state, the Covid 19 pandemic is gradually declining, which means more time and space for new achievements.

Virgin is actively developing in its main sphere — small satellite launches — and is getting ready for a new mission. But Virgin Orbit is always ready to defend the planet in the face of a common danger.