Posted on by Evan Gough

The Shelf Life of Many Medications Is Shorter Than A Round Trip To Mars

Color mosaic image of Mars, taken by the HRSC instrument aboard the ESA's Mars Express orbiter. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Michael)

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.

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Posted on by Nancy Graziano

Weekly Space Hangout: October 7, 2020, Dr. David Warmflash Discusses Mixed-Reality Surgical System

This week we welcome back to the show Dr. David Warmflash. Since he was last with us, David has been named as Co-Principal Investigator and Medical Director for a new NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBRI) Phase I study titled “Mixed-Reality Holographic Training System to Enable High-Value Surgical and Complex Medical Procedures by Astronauts.” This study, managed by the New Jersey-based Mgenuity Corporation with collaboration from Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), aims to develop a system to guide astronauts through surgical and medical procedures on Exploration Class missions.

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Posted on by Evan Gough

How Would We Do Surgery in Space?

Virtually rendered cutaway view of a postulated traumapod surgical module. Multiple layers of thermal and radiation shielding are visible. A four?armed surgical robot is situated within the module. The patient is tethered to the operating table, while the assistant, using a touchscreen console, is tethered to the module structure via a movable chair. Illustration by T. Trapp (https://www.planvis.co.uk) CC BY-SA 4.0

Any mission to Mars requires deeper planning than missions to the ISS or the Moon. Based purely on the length of the mission, contingencies branch outwards in complex logistical pathways. What if there’s an accident? What if someone’s appendix bursts?

And what if surgery is needed?

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