Pelican MRI, Inc.

Gradient-free MRI for use in space and northern Canada.

Our goal is to provide MRIs for future lunar medical clinics. The C2M2 represents the beginning of the design of these future lunar medical clinics. Pelican MRI can provide an MRI medical imaging solution for developers of the C2M2s. For this first phase we will provide a 1D gradient-free MRI design, the Merlin MRI, which has been proven on a zero-g test flight in 2021. Gradient-free MRI is the only MRI design suitable for use in space. For the following phases we will work with the C2M2 developers to evolve the bare-bones Merlin MRI to one that can be deployed with the C2M2 to the Canadian north and eventually to the Moon. We have provided the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) with conceptual/preliminary designs for wrist-sized and ankle-sized MRIs suitable for installation on the International Space Station as well as MRI-centred conceptual designs for a Spacecraft Medical Imaging System for future crewed deep space Martian transports. The Merlin MRI was developed under a CSA FAST grant and Pelican MRI, Inc. is currently a participant in the CSA's Deep Space Healthcare Challenge. The Merlin MRI is an ankle-size MRI that will be useful for demonstrating how a head-size MRI will be integrated into the final C2M2. The MRI will provide DICOM format images ready for integration into a C2M2's AI-based diagnostic system, and its medical record data-base. In follow-on C2M2 phases, the MRI will be upgraded to a clinically useful head-size MRI suitable for head trauma evaluation.