From Earth to Space: The Challenges and Innovations in Space Healthcare Infrastructure

As countries and some private companies are engaged in a space race, there's another one less spoken about- med tech space. It is almost a foregone conclusion that there will be a form of permanent or semi-permanent colony on the moon and mars in the next two decades or so and?Space health is increasingly taking a center stage. The human mission to the moon through artemis program and to mars with SpaceX's starship will put huge strains and human bodies. The missions will take a long time and people are expected to be in those hostile environment for long. The world need to develop healthcare technology to help them survive radiation and other health challenges. If you are sick in mars, you cannot rush to nearest ER! Robust point of care is needed and new developments in medical technology will be crucial. Since those colonialist will be millions of kilometers away from the nearest ER, there should be a form of healthcare system specific to the conditions up there. Conditions such as low gravity, radiation etc.?

NASA has been doing the research on the effects of space conditions on human body. The?research also aids in the development and assessment of medical standards, physical fitness programs and standards, physiological and psychological adaptation training, sensorimotor training, and nutritional health protocols, according to NASA.?NASA is researching risks?for Mars missions which are grouped into five human spaceflight hazards?related to the stressors they place on the body. These can be summarized with the acronym “RIDGE,” short for Space?Radiation,?Isolation and Confinement,?Distance?from Earth,?Gravity?fields, and Hostile/Closed?Environments.?

Radiation is the most challenging of all stressors. Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR) is a dominant source of radiation that must be dealt with aboard current spacecraft and future space missions within our solar system.?Another way to think of GCR would be to imagine the nucleus of any element in the periodic table from hydrogen to uranium.?They can pass practically unimpeded through a typical spacecraft or the skin of an astronaut.?Radiation?Increased risk of cancer?and degenerative disease?such as heart disease and cataracts.

The?research in those other planets is also expected to be valuable for the people on earth. Most scenarios have global warming above the projected 1, 5 degrees Celsius and the future generations might live in conditions that put a different demands on their bodies. It is for that reason that some medical breakthrough from harsh conditions of space might be useful here on earth.?Majority of earth’s population does not have quick access to medical imaging tools such as ultrasound technology, and NASA has been doing transformational work in space that will have an impact here on earth. Technologies that are used to keep astronauts alive in space have been adapted to serve healthcare in rural and remote areas of the world. Space is the ultimate low resources environment. It is remote, austere and underserved and that was the ideal condition to develop those technologies. The biggest value in technology lies in its application. Technology becomes 10X valuable when it is deployed in different fields at scale. Companies such as Butterfly IQ and WINFOCUS are developing some unbelievable medical ultrasound imaging technologies. WINFOCUS is the poster child of space medical technology. It is the ultimate telemedicine platform that can provide healthcare technology to astronauts in space. WINFOCUS has developed training methods for physicians and other personnel, sometimes termed “physician extenders, faced with the diagnosis and treatment of disease in places lacking modern medical resources. According to WINFOCUS, telemedicine is adapted and further developed in order to allow large-scale integration in healthcare systems on Earth through low-cost applications. Local healthcare providers are empowered, more patients can access quality and timely diagnostic care, and the entire healthcare system is made more accessible and efficient. This is a very bold vision but cost will be a crucial factor for countries such as South Africa. Technology is almost useless if the majority of people who really need it cannot afford to get it. That is the bottom line.?

Leading space countries such as US and China are investing in space healthcare research and NASA have some exciting projects.?Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) has been giving grants to individuals who want to study space medicine and companies building space medical technologies. Occupying the moon and mars are the stated goals of major space companies including NASA with their Artemis program and SpaceX' super heavy as some of the examples.?

Space medical technology (and space medicine in general) is receiving a large amount of investment at the moment. This is mostly because of renewed interest in space sparked by the likes of SpaceX and leading to what is called the new space race. Space medicine has been around a bit longer but niched as only NASA and Russians showed serious interest in it. The growth in interest in space medical technology could be attributed to explosive growth in space economy in general. The value of space technology companies is estimated at $4T (4 trillion US dollars) and is the fastest growing sector of the world economy.