Robot in space will allow surgeons on Earth to perform operations on astronauts

We might be able to see space surgeries in our lifetime.

Last weekend, surgeons controlled a small robot aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Even though the surgery was performed on rubber bands, it marked the first-ever successful surgery in orbit.

They tied a total of 10 rubber bands on metal panels around the robot. The surgeons' job was to use the robot's 'hands' to pull, stretch, and cut them - around 20 in total - mimicking the movements of real, Earth-bound surgery.

Earth-bound surgeons performed a successful surgery in orbit / gorodenkoff/Getty

The robot known as space MIRA - which stands for Miniaturised In Vivo Robotic Assistant - has performed multiple operations on simulated tissue up at the orbiting laboratory.

'The experiment was deemed a huge success by all surgeons and researchers, and there were little to no hiccups,' reported Virtual Incision, the start-up that created spaceMIRA.

With very steady hands, the surgeons had to account for both zero gravity and a time delay.

'You have to wait a little bit for the movement to happen, it’s definitely slower movements than you’re used to in the operating room,” added Michael Jobst, a Lincoln-based colorectal surgeon and the first controller of the robot.

Commenting on the delay, Jobst also explained: 'In a live patient, if there is bleeding, it’s my job to stop that bleeding immediately. But to have an 800 to 850 millisecond lag between seeing the blood loss and then doing something about it, I mean, effectively that’s like… saying, OK, one Mississippi, two, and then I get to go ahead and fix the problem.'

The 'simulated tissue' was actually rubber bands / gorodenkoff/Getty

Shane Farritor, cofounder and chief technology officer at Virtual Incision, said: 'It gives smaller hands and eyes to the surgeon (on Earth) and allows them to perform a lot of procedures minimally invasively.'

NASA, which helped fund the project, said that 'the potential need for emergency care increases, including surgical procedures from simple stitching of lacerations to more complex activities' with longer space missions.

Farritor concluded: 'SpaceMIRA’s success at a space station orbiting 250 miles above Earth indicates how useful it can be for health care facilities on the ground.'

SpaceMIRA's success in space excites the scientists in the potential it could bring to surgeries on Earth.

Ted Voloyiannis of Texas Oncologists in Houston, added: 'This robot is more accessible. It is easier to train on and it will be available to small communities without specialised surgeons.'