First diagnostic X-rays captured during spaceflight
Crew members on a commercial spaceflight have taken the first diagnostic X-rays in space, using a portable device that could pave the way for better healthcare on long-duration missions.
As space missions become more frequent and last longer, researchers are exploring ways to bring healthcare closer to astronauts. Portable medical technologies could play a key role, as recent study testing a new X-ray device aboard a spacecraft has shown.
Non-medical crew members on a commercial spaceflight acquired the first diagnostic X-rays taken during a flight in orbit, using a portable wireless digital X-ray generator.
The results, published in the journal Radiology, by the Radiological Society of North America, showed that the quality of images was as good as on land.
All in-flight X-rays were equivalent to those taken before the takeoff in overall image quality, spatial resolution, and contrast resolution, the researchers noted.
One of the main barriers however, remains the challenge of getting a correct positioning of the patient in microgravity — a physical state in which the perceived pull of gravity is extremely weak, causing objects and people to appear weightless.
Central body images, such as the chest, pelvis, and abdomen proved to have worse positioning in-flight than those of the hand or forearm.
The study also found that the estimated radiation exposure to participants was not greater than that associated with standard clinical imaging on Earth.
“It’s been a dream for aerospace medicine to have more than one imaging modality for diagnosing illnesses and injuries in space,” said Sheyna Gifford, lead researcher at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in the United States.
She added that traditional X-ray machines are very large, produce a lot of radiation, and have a tendency to produce a blurred image if there’s movement, which made obtaining diagnostic images in orbit “too technically challenging.”
The new SpaceXray system allowed non-medical crew members to acquire radiographic images with just four hours of pre-flight training.
The device was tested during a SpaceX commercial flight launched on 31 March, 2025 for a three days and 14 hours mission. During the landing and recovery, the X-ray generator sustained superficial structural damage but the internal hardware components and X-ray output were unaffected.
“A spaceflight-ready radiography system would have profound implications not only for crew health but also for mission-critical nonmedical tasks,” Gifford said.
“For sustained human presence in space, X-rays are critical not just for crew members but also for other mission components like electronics and spacesuits. The only way to look inside these objects without taking them apart is to X-ray them.”
Beyond health applications, the researchers noted that this new system could also be useful in environments such as combat zones or resource-limited communities to expand disease screening, including tuberculosis testing.
Ultimately, the authors wrote, both space-based and Earth-based communities stand to benefit as ultraportable digital radiography technology continues to advance.
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