Experts Explore the Medical Safety Needs of Civilian Space Travel Credit: NASA The commercial aviation industry has medical care standards, as does NASA for traditional space missions, and the emerging commercial space transportation industry will need to define medical care practices as well. The unique risks posed by commercial spaceflight warrant the establishment of Medical Levels of Care to account for the different phases of suborbital and orbital missions, as described in an article published in New Space, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the New Space website until Feb. 14, 2015. In the article Considerations toward Defining Medical Levels of Care for Commercial Spaceflight, Stefan Neis and David Klaus, University of Colorado, Boulder, review current medical care practices in the civilian aviation industry and traditional space exploration sector and offer suggestions for defining appropriate onboard levels of medical care for the commercial space transportation industry, related to different types and phases of flight. Suborbital tourist flights, for example, might require motion sickness and pain medications, oxygen masks, and possibly pressure suits onboard; whereas longer-term orbital flights would necessitate a higher level of care, including emergency medical equipment and training and perhaps spacesuits. Medical constraints are the most important discriminators in determining who in the general population can be a spaceflight participant. This original article adds critical new knowledge to an emerging discipline, says Editor-in-Chief of New Space Prof. Scott Hubbard of Stanford University. NASA has established detailed sets of safety requirements for space missions derived from over 50 years of human spaceflight experience, but these are not addressed from a regulatory perspective. The aviation industry, on the other hand, offers examples of regulated commercial approaches, but these do not take into account the specific concerns that might arise during a spaceflight. The goal of this analysis was to examine existing practices from both of these fields in order to provide considerations toward defining appropriate onboard levels of medical care for the commercial space transportation (CST) industry as applicable to different types and phases of flight. The experts conclude that long-term orbital missions, in particular if return to Earth is not a feasible option, will demand higher levels of care and will likely need to be automated to some degree. Similarly, planetary and lunar surface outposts require a different level of care than long-term transit orbits. Planning for these future scenarios will benefit from experiences gained during the early stages of commercial spaceflight. Credit: liebertpub astrowatch.net/2015/01/experts-explore-medical-safety-needs-of.html
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 00:25:43 +0000