Scientists from the Nebraska Innovation Campus, which operates at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, have developed a miniature surgical robot that can work in space.. It is called the Miniaturized In-vivo Robotic Assistant, or MIRA for short, according to Science Alert..

Portable robotic surgery platform to be delivered to the International Space Station in 2024. This will be a test mission that will demonstrate the feasibility of such a system in space..

[see_also ids\u003d"

Shane Ferritor and his team worked on the creation of the robot. The researcher has already collaborated with NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the Goddard Space Flight Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in support of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) program..

In particular, he helped design and assemble the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, determine their path of travel, and develop a process in which the rover's solar detectors are used to determine its direction of travel..

Ferritor and his colleague Dmitry Oleinikov have been developing MIRA for 20 years, they managed to raise more than $100 million in venture capital. NASA recently awarded their company Virtual Incision a $100,000 grant..

Compared to other robotic complexes, MIRA has several advantages.. First, its instruments can be inserted through small incisions, allowing doctors to perform minimally invasive surgeries.. Secondly, the use of the robot allows surgeons to work remotely..

On Earth, this technology already allows doctors to help patients in remote places where medicine is not available..

Moreover, MIRA has the advantage of battery life. This means that astronauts who will colonize the Moon or Mars will be able to receive medical care without the presence of a human surgeon..

In August 2021, the robot was successfully tested during a remote operation on Earth. Over the next year, Ferritor and his colleagues will work on robot technology to adapt it to operations on board the ISS..