Sterile Water for Injection System for On-Site Production of IV Fluids at Space Station Freedom HMF

Fluid therapy is a basic requirement for modern medical care. As in standard Earth-based medical care, treatment of serious illness or injury of a crewmember at the planned Space Station Freedom Health Maintenance Facility (HMF) will rely on drugs and fluids administered as an aqueous solution. The inventory of prepared fluids in a hospital setting is extensive. Dependent upon the injury or illness and its severity, a patient could require more than 10 liters of fluid per day. A patient in the remote setting of the planned Space Station Freedom could have similar requirements.

For the Space Station Freedom Health Maintenance Facility (HMF), volume and mass available for storage of supplies is extremely limited. Fluids for administration to a crewmember/patient are planned to be prepared from potable water.

To address these and other requirements for HMF, an experimental system to produce sterile water for injection from Space Station Freedom potable (drinking) water, the sterile water for injection system (SWIS), has been developed by Sterimatics Corporation in cooperation with KRUG International and NASA. The system is based on passive, disposable water purification and containment devices.