Future human space exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) will require innovative solutions in many areas, especially to support the crew medically and optimize their health and performance. Challenges will be numerous, including: extended one-way communication delays, minimal to non-existent resupply and a transit time to a “definitive care” facility ranging from 3-days to 9-months. At the same time, exploration spacecraft will face even more significant restrictions on mass-power-volume-data than in present operational settings. Given these limitations, medical risk assessment is of primary importance, especially evaluating the implications of a medical evacuation of an ill or injured crewmember. Such evacuations are complicated and potentially dangerous, and may be impossible in certain phases of the mission, but this must be weighed against the risks of the injured crew remaining aboard a spacecraft with limited medical resources.
Spaceflight Medical Evacuation Risk Assessment Principles – A Qualitative Investigation
2021 NASA Human Research Program Investigators' Workshop ; 2021 ; Virtual, US
Conference paper
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English