X-ray technology developed by a Waterloo Engineering spinoff company blasted into space this week as part of a private mission aboard a SpaceX rocket.
The flagship X-ray device made by KA imaging was selected for the Fram2 mission, a partnership of academic institutions and private companies with a four-person crew, for its portability and accuracy.
In one of more than 20 research projects as the spacecraft orbits above the Earth’s poles, the KA detector will be used to take the first-ever X-rays of astronauts in space to monitor their loss of bone density, an issue for long-range exploration.
KA Imaging was founded in 2015 by Waterloo Engineering alumni Amol Karnick (BASc ’95), Sina Ghanbarzadeh (MASc '14) and Dr. Karim S. Karim (BASc '99, PhD '03), a professor of electrical and computer engineering.
“Ultrasound has been used as the primary imaging modality in space,” Karnick, CEO of the Waterloo company, said in a media release announcing its involvement.
“However, both X-ray and ultrasound serve distinct purposes, and the opportunity to finally integrate spectral X-ray technology into a spacecraft represents a significant step forward in expanding advanced medical capabilities beyond our planet.”