IV Fluid Administration

This project is requested from the NASA Flight surgeons.

Executive Summary

The NASA Human Health & Performance (HH&P) IV Fluid Administration Device project is a high school engineering design challenge in which teams of 3–5 students design, build, and test a working prototype of an intravenous fluid delivery system capable of operating in microgravity. The core engineering challenge is that standard Earth-based IV systems rely entirely on gravity to drive fluid flow and on buoyancy to eliminate air bubbles, both of which are absent in microgravity. Students must design a pressure-infuser-based system that delivers at least 5 liters per medical event at an emergency flow rate of 1 L in 15 minutes, primes in under 90 seconds, and eliminates all air from the fluid path using gravity-independent phase-separation technology. Patient safety is the non-negotiable top priority — zero air to the patient under any configuration. Prototypes that meet all core requirements may pursue bonus objectives including ultrasound compatibility and a real-time digital monitoring interface. Student work in this program may directly inform medical equipment carried on future crewed missions to the Moon and Mars.

Problem Statement

Standard IV fluid administration systems are designed for Earth, where gravity drives fluid from the bag through the line to the patient and buoyancy causes air bubbles to rise to the top of the line where they can be safely vented. In microgravity, neither of these mechanisms exists. Without gravitational force, fluid does not flow on its own and must be actively pressurized. Without buoyancy, air bubbles do not rise — they travel freely through the fluid path directly toward the patient, creating a life-threatening risk of gas embolism with no passive means of interception. Standard air-elimination filters that rely on buoyancy for gas-liquid separation are ineffective in this environment. Additionally, on deep-space missions with communication delays of up to 24 minutes each way, real-time guidance from Earth is not possible — the crew must be able to set up and operate the entire system autonomously, under stress, without error. No currently available, flight-ready IV system fully addresses all of these constraints simultaneously: active pressure-driven flow, gravity-independent continuous air elimination, single-crewmember operability, and maintainability over 900+ day missions. A purpose-built microgravity IV fluid administration device is needed that meets all of these requirements without compromising patient safety.

Students must review the documents and links for more resources on this project.