World's Smallest Pacemaker Takes Space Journey

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Minnesota-made medical device proved it can withstand a trip to space.

Medtronic's Micra pacemaker, the world's smallest pacemaker, has some components that are thinner than human hair -- yet it survived a rocket launch.

Wade Demmer is one of the engineers who spent nearly nine years developing Micra. The device is smaller than the battery in a traditional pacemaker and doesn't require a lead wire.

"It's the only leadless pacemaker that's FDA approved," Demmer said.

Micra underwent countless tests during development. Engineers wanted to make sure it could withstand varying temperatures, the g-force of a car crash and even the radiation one might be exposed to from cancer treatment.

However, in a rocket launch, all those tests occur at once.

"From a pacemaker developer perspective, we design these to be durable, we test them to be durable. As an engineer I know numbers, I know what they can go through. But actually seeing them in a rocket, it's a different experience," Demmer said. "We didn't design it to go into a rocket ship."

Micra got its ticket to space as part of a youth science program called Cubes in Space. A Nebraska high school student named Shelbi Klingsporn wanted to test its functionality against the radiation, g-force and temperatures swings of a rocket launch and landing.

She submitted a proposal to launch her experiment into space on a NASA rocket and was one of 80 students selected. Wade helped assist the project at a NASA flight facility.

"The hall of fame of engineers is the NASA space program, so being able to be associated with rocket launches, when as a kid I watched launches, that to me was interesting," Demmer said.

Eight hours after the launch, the group was testing the pacemaker to see if it worked.

"Just rocketing it out of the atmosphere, then coming back down and still working, it was very exciting to prove the durability," Demmer said.

Those living with a pacemaker can't go into space due to medical concerns, but Demmer says it opens the door to the idea that a person who uses the device could one day launch into space.

"You have this full life idea and all the sudden, not even the sky's the limit," Demmer said. "It's very fulfilling as a future option."