NASA Honors Life-Saving 'Invention of the Year'

NASA engineer Jan Zysko was presented today with the agency's Commercial Invention and Government Invention for 2003 award for a life-saving device inspired by a tragic accident.

Image right: NASA engineer Jan Zysko accepts the Commercial and Government Invention of the Year Award from James L. Jennings, Associate Deputy Administrator, Institutions and Asset Management. Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.

Zysko's invention is called the Personal Cabin Pressure Altitude Monitor, or CPM. It's designed to provide an early warning of oxygen deprivation to the brain, a condition known as hypoxia.

According to Zysko, during cabin de-pressurization of an airliner at a typical cruising altitude of 35,000 feet, one will only have 5 to 12 seconds of useful consciousness before becoming helpless. The euphoric feeling brought about by the early stages of hypoxia masks the dangers of oxygen starvation.

If a loss of cabin pressure goes undetected, hypoxia can be a lethal flying partner. In those conditions a person can feel like they're functioning normally while actually their mental capacity quickly diminishes. Soon after, physical movement is impossible, followed by unconsciousness and possible loss of life.

"If this technology can help avoid even one incident or accident, it will have been worth all the effort and resources put forth," said Zysko, an applied research and development engineer based at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Zysko was inspired to develop sensors to monitor cabin pressure and altitude after the October 1999 aircraft accident which took the lives of golfer Payne Stewart and his colleagues. Zysko built a crude prototype over the Christmas holidays that year and brought it in to work to find out if management would be interested in further development.

When his team was given $100,000 in funding, development started in earnest. In only six months, the device went from a prototype to a fully functioning unit.