Check any container of over-the-counter medicine, and you’ll see its expiration date. Prescription medicines have similar lifetimes, and we’re told to discard old medications rather than hold on to them. Most of them lose their effectiveness over time, and some can even become toxic. We’re discouraged from disposing of them in our wastewater because they can find their way into other organisms, sometimes with deleterious effects.
We can replace them relatively easily on Earth, but not on a space mission beyond Low Earth Orbit.
Continue reading “The Shelf Life of Many Medications Is Shorter Than A Round Trip To Mars”