SpaceXray: Feasibility and Diagnostic Capabilities of On-Orbit Medical Radiography.

Background To support crew health during spaceflight, in-flight imaging must extend beyond the capabilities of portable ultrasound (US). Digital radiography may provide improved diagnostic quality and enable equipment monitoring through nondestructive testing. Purpose To demonstrate the feasibility of a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) radiography system for on-orbit imaging applications. Materials and Methods In a prospective study, a portable, digital, COTS radiography system was evaluated during the 3.5-day Fram2 polar orbital flight. Anatomic and equipment radiographs were obtained preflight and in-flight by crew participants with 4 hours of training. Radiographs were evaluated by independent radiologists on overall image quality, spatial resolution, contrast resolution, and positioning (Likert scores of 1-5). Preflight radiographs were compared with in-flight radiographs using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Hardware testing and crew surveys were conducted postflight; survey responses were thematically analyzed due to small sample size. Results Three crewmembers participated (mean age, 42.8 years ± 13.9 [SD]; two women). In-flight and preflight anatomic radiographs (seven each) demonstrated no evidence of differences in overall image quality (mean score, 4.86 ± 0.26 vs 5.0 ± 0, respectively;