Yes—a miniature robot called spaceMIRA completed a simulated surgical task aboard the International Space Station on February 10, 2024. It was remotely operated by surgeons on Earth and used to grasp and cut rubber bands standing in for tissue. No person or animal underwent surgery.
What did the robot do in orbit?
spaceMIRA worked inside a payload box, manipulating and cutting rubber bands used as simulated tissue. Surgeons at Virtual Incision’s headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska, remotely operated the robot, while station personnel relayed commands. The ISS was orbiting about 250 miles above Earth at the time, according to Nebraska Today.
The device was developed by Virtual Incision and University of Nebraska researchers through a NASA-supported EPSCoR project. Virtual Incision described it as the first surgical robot sent to the station in a January 30, 2024 release; the experiment was designed to examine microgravity and remote-control challenges. The reported spaceMIRA system weighed about two pounds, according to the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
How was the ISS procedure controlled?
The experiment included both preprogrammed autonomous motions and telesurgery controlled by surgeons on Earth, according to NASA’s 2025 annual results. In the teleoperated phase, surgeons directed the robot remotely, with station personnel relaying commands. The distance and communications delay mattered: NASA says latency increased operative time and required surgeons to adapt how they moved the instruments.
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What did the demonstration establish?
NASA reported that microgravity had minimal impact on the robot’s precision and the forces it applied. That is an encouraging engineering result, but it is not evidence that the system can perform emergency treatment or a clinical operation in space. The demonstration used simulated tissue, and its findings concerned robotic control and performance in orbit.
There is a separate terrestrial regulatory milestone: NASA Spinoff reports that the Earth-based MIRA system received FDA marketing authorization for colectomies less than two weeks after the February 2024 demonstration. That authorization applies to the terrestrial system, not to surgery in space. NASA Spinoff’s account is available at NASA Spinoff.
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Could this help astronauts on a Mars mission?
Potentially, but the ISS test did not prove that spaceMIRA can treat an astronaut during a mission. As crews travel farther from Earth, evacuation may take longer and access to an onboard surgical specialist may be limited. A compact robot that can be operated remotely or execute planned movements could contribute to contingency planning—but the communication delay seen in this demonstration is also a practical obstacle, especially when Earth is far away.
The researchers and NASA also point to possible terrestrial uses for a portable surgical system in rural, developing, disaster-affected, or otherwise resource-limited settings. Those are prospective applications, not outcomes demonstrated by the ISS experiment. More about the project’s broader rationale is available from NASA Spinoff.
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