The Godfather of Surgery

Susan, get ready, turn on the remote surgery system, and Dr. Yang is going to operate on Steven.

Collins, who was more familiar with Houston's liaison with the International Space Station than the chief medical officer from Washington, became the actual coordinator of the surgery.

The network communication composed of three satellites is the only connection between the International Space Station and Houston, and the only guarantee for Steven's life.

Susan and David Hawley, who were on the verge of despair, immediately took action when they heard the order. Whether it was possible or not, this was the only hope.

They had already installed and fixed the telesurgery system, the sterile-packaged robotic arm was protected by a shield, the flat plate that replaced the operating bed was also firmly fixed, and Steven was firmly fixed to the flat plate by the restraint device.

In a microgravity environment, any movement of the human body in zero gravity can be fatal if it is not properly fixed.

This is the first space surgery in human history, and the remote surgery system is still used. The International Space Station prepares so many equipment and medicines, and there are not many times when real doctors are required to deal with it. The last medical incident was an astronaut accident. A left internal jugular vein thrombosis occurred, causing a high degree of tension among the doctors on the ground.

After the doctors assessed the condition, they first used the anticoagulant enoxaparin in the space station's medicine cabinet to inject subcutaneously. After 43 days, the rocket sent a batch of oral anticoagulant apixaban to the International Space Station. , successfully returned.

This time, Steven's condition is completely different. It cannot be treated with drugs, and interventional surgery must be performed.

Need to adjust the posture of the space station? David Hawley became Susan's only helper.

Richard is in charge of the engineering of the space station: Maintain the original position, check the air pressure of the space station, check the power system, pay attention to the impact of the micrometeorite on the space station, and if the preparations are in place, the communication test will begin.

The space network relies on a system of tracking and data-relaying satellites positioned in high orbits that primarily use radio signals to communicate with antennas on the ground. After the ground antenna receives the signal, it sends these signals to the various centers of NASA through fixed lines. After that, the computer system of NASA converts these signals into readable data. When the data is sent back from the earth to the International Space Station, The process is reversed, with a delay of less than 1 second.

If the delay does not exceed 1 second, the signal is in a stable state. Sometimes due to various reasons, the signal is weakened, and the communication will be delayed or interrupted.

Even if the signal can be stabilized, a delay of 1 second is fatal for this high-risk surgery.

Not long ago, the network communication communication of the International Space Station was expanded once, and it already has a bandwidth of 600 megabytes. Strictly speaking, this bandwidth cannot meet the needs of remote surgery.

The four flexible robotic arms are researched by NASA in cooperation with MIT and Intuition. They should be the best surgical system in the world. They not only have good accuracy, but also have good flexibility and stability, but the defects are still there. There is, no good haptic feedback.

The original intention of the surgical robot was to be used by NASA for the medical treatment of astronauts on the space station, and it was later converted to civilian use.

So NASA's surgical robot is the originator of the entire surgical robot industry.

There is a room in the ground control center in Houston dedicated to operating the surgical robot of the space station. Jim Bassa sent a lot of security guards to be responsible for security protection. The door, aisle, elevator, and stairs are all strictly guarded to prevent the surgical process from being disturbed.

In addition to the security of Space City, the Houston Police Department and the FBI have sent police officers to protect the building, and Jim Bassa has the strongest authority at this time.

The operation room was turned into a safe house. Only Huang Jiacai, Cheng Liquan, Johanneson, and Collins were with him. The others were all outside. Engineers who deal with emergency failures could only stand by outside the isolation zone of the room.

Reporters are restricted from entering this building, and any reporter who infiltrates may affect the operation because of recklessness, making all efforts in vain.

Even with the overwhelming scolding, Jim Barca ruthlessly blocked reporters outside Houston's Space City, and the entire Space City was closed.

Once the emergency relief rose to the national level, Jim Bassa received the direct authorization of the president, and all kinds of strong support followed.

Aerospace giants such as Raytheon Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, etc. are ready to provide support, and SpaceX's Falcon 9 is ready to lift off again at any time for intensive launches and possible medical materials. Even people were sent to the International Space Station.

Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, both private aerospace companies, have also joined the rescue plan to be dispatched.

Symantec is responsible for the security of the space station and the ground communication network, preventing the intrusion of troublesome hackers and disrupting the operation of remote surgery.

The weather department upgrades the level of weather monitoring and provides weather forecasts at any time. Weather is the most unstable factor that interferes with communications.

On the surface, the waves are calm, but all the security forces are in place, not for anything else, but for the success of this operation.

Every request of Yang Ping will be turned into an order, and finally become an effective resource to support the operation.

From a medical technology perspective, Steven's telesurgery is almost impossible, and no one can operate a telemedicine device to such an extent that it can freely enter and exit the blood vessels of the brainstem.

But this Chinese can do it, he is the only hope, and all the resources will be around him to serve the purpose.

Communication connection!

start testing!

The 600M bandwidth is all used for surgery, but in this way, the communication is still in an unstable state due to signal problems.

Yang Ping started manipulating the four manipulators, which would be a huge challenge to overcome random and irregular delays and interruptions.

The network test, the screen delay, cannot achieve the precision of the operation.

Can you improve network speed and stability? If possible, the success rate will be higher.

Yang Ping stopped the test, he hoped that the network speed would be faster and the network would be more stable.

Jim Bassa and Richard came into the safe room and Richard said: There are two programs that can help us, and both can be called at any time, the broadband Global Communications Satellite Communication System (WGS), which is a military communication system, has the White House It is not a problem to come forward and temporarily borrow it for us to use, and another method is to call all the satellites of SpaceX's Starlink program to support this operation, but there is no guarantee that there will be no delay, and there are too many unstable factors in space communication.

Indeed, communications on the International Space Station, supported by three satellites, make it difficult to support this high-risk surgery.

If you can use either of these two communication systems to obtain strong and stable communication, the success rate of the operation will be higher. At this time, even a little improvement is meaningful.

Broadband Global Communication Satellite Communication System (WGS), the US global military needs its support, and I don't know how much communication capacity can be called to us. It will be more convenient to call SpaceX's Starlink satellites. It can stop all current services and temporarily use it for us. rescue mission.

Yang Ping thought for a while: Which one to use, you decide for yourself, I need more powerful network communication, and as soon as possible!

Even if there is no delay, using a robot to perform this kind of surgery is like skyrocketing, and there are hidden risks. The more chances of winning, the more hope.

Just a phone call, spaceX immediately supported the rescue mission, and the headquarters of the Starlink project began to adjust the connection of the satellites, all of which were connected to NASA's International Space Station and Houston to form a dedicated network for surgery.

Weather will affect the stability of the network. The weather monitoring agency continuously monitors the cloud map over Houston 24 hours a day. Once the cloud flow is concentrated, if there are signs of heavy rain, cloud dispersal methods will be used if necessary.

The communication problem has been solved, and although it has not fully met the requirements, it is already the best condition.

Over the years, the International Space Station has been aging, and there are constant minor problems. In addition to communication problems, other problems, such as power failures and micrometeorite impacts, are all potential risks. There have been cracks in the module that Japan is responsible for building, and it almost cost a few astronauts. Life.

Small artery embolism in the brainstem, delay or interruption of communication for any reason, shaking of the patient's body, and loss of control of the robotic arm will cause Yang Ping to lose control of the operation.

When the catheter, guide wire and coil enter the target blood vessel, once these problems occur, it is almost like a sudden power outage during the operation, and it is completely dark.

Just like a race car driver, suddenly it is pitch black and nothing can be seen. No matter how long this period of time is, no matter how high the level of the racing driver is, the result is that the car crashes.

Test the communication again! Much better than before.

Power Systems?

Richard asked in another room, which was the command center for the rescue mission.

Checking!

David Hawley was a little nervous, testing the electrical system with instruments in shaky hands.

Yang Ping sat in front of the console, entered the field of vision, and began to familiarize himself with the operation of the robotic arm in the new network environment again.

Someone attacked our communication system!

Symantec's security team found dozens of attacks, all neutralized by their defenses, and they immediately reported it to Jim Bassa.

Damn, at this time, how can someone attack us, we are saving people! Jim Bassa's head was big.

Richard was also nervous: Aren't we a dedicated communication connection? Isolated from the external network?

Symantec's cybersecurity expert shook his head and said: As long as the device is physically capable of networking, there is no isolation from this argument, but don't worry, these attacks are pediatric and we have resolved them.

There are so many dangerous factors, and now there is another hacker attack, Jim Bass is very worried. Before, American high school students hacked the website of the Department of Defense.

Maybe it's the restless middle school students? These restless guys. Jim Bass scolded.

Cyber ​​security experts agree with Jim Bassa: Looking at the attack method, it is relatively immature. It should be a middle school student who is joking.

In the sky 400 kilometers from the ground, the International Space Station flew over people's heads at a speed of more than 28,000 kilometers per hour. Who would have thought that an astronaut was ready to undergo surgery.

The work was delayed than planned. I came back very late today, and I worked overtime to revise and issue one chapter. The four chapters promised to be reissued today will be made up in the next few days. I asked for a leave of absence for 3 days, and I felt uneasy in my heart, but today I saw the comments in the comments, full of tolerance and understanding, and I was very moved! I can only say, you are the best, thank you, really! I must write well and write wonderful stories! By the way, the support for the operation in the grassroots hospital this time is voluntary labor, and it is not easy for the brothers in the grassroots hospital.