NASA and Google collaborating together to boost astronaut health on Moon and Mars missions
As human space missions venture farther into deep space, the challenge of maintaining crew health grows increasingly complex. Unlike current missions aboard the International Space Station (ISS), where astronauts rely heavily on constant communication with Earth-based medical teams, regular medication supplies, and the option to return within six months, future journeys to the Moon, Mars, and beyond demand greater medical self-sufficiency.
NASA
and
have teamed up to develop a breakthrough solution: an AI-powered medical assistant designed to support astronauts autonomously during extended spaceflight.
NASA calls for AI medical assistant to support astronauts on Moon and Mars missions
With missions extending beyond low Earth orbit, astronauts will face significant hurdles in healthcare management. Presently, ISS crews benefit from:
Continuous real-time communication with ground-based medical experts
Routine delivery of medicines and medical supplies
Evacuation options within months if medical emergencies arise
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However, for lunar and Mars expeditions, communication delays can stretch up to 20 minutes each way, resupply missions will be infrequent, and emergency returns could take months or years. This scenario creates a pressing need for onboard medical autonomy, enabling astronauts to diagnose and treat health issues without immediate Earth-based assistance.
NASA and Google collaboration: Developing the Crew Medical Officer Digital Assistant (CMO-DA)
To meet these challenges, NASA has partnered with
to create the
Crew Medical Officer Digital Assistant
(CMO-DA) — an AI-driven medical tool designed for autonomous use by astronauts. This digital assistant is intended to serve as a virtual healthcare provider in space, bridging the gap when a medical doctor is not present onboard and communication with Earth is limited or delayed.
Key features of CMO-DA:
Multimodal Interface: Allows interaction via speech, text, and image inputs to facilitate easy use in space conditions.
Cloud-Based Infrastructure: Operates within Google Cloud's Vertex AI environment, enabling continuous application development and AI model training.
Collaborative AI Model Development: NASA maintains ownership of the app's source code and contributes actively to refine AI models alongside Google's technology and third-party integrations.
NASA's AI medical assistant achieves high accuracy in testing key medical scenarios
CMO-DA has already undergone preliminary testing using three simulated medical cases: ankle injury, flank pain, and ear pain. A panel comprising two physicians and one astronaut assessed the assistant's performance across four key areas:
Initial patient assessment
Medical history taking
Clinical reasoning and diagnosis
Treatment planning
The results were encouraging, with diagnostic accuracies recorded as:
88% for ankle injury
74% for flank pain
80% for ear pain
These outcomes indicate strong potential for the assistant to provide reliable autonomous medical support during space missions.
NASA's plan to enhance CMO-DA for advanced space healthcare
NASA
plans an incremental development approach to continuously improve the CMO-DA system. Upcoming updates will focus on:
Integrating medical device data: Incorporating inputs from onboard diagnostic tools for richer information.
Enhancing situational awareness: Adapting AI algorithms to account for spaceflight-specific factors such as microgravity's effects on human physiology.
Contextualized medical advice: Delivering treatment recommendations tailored to the unique environment and conditions of deep space.
This will enable the assistant to offer more precise, relevant, and timely healthcare guidance in the isolated and challenging environment of space.
How NASA's AI medical assistant could transform healthcare worldwide
While designed for space, the implications of this AI-powered medical assistant extend far beyond
astronaut health
. David Cruley, a Google Public Sector engineer involved in the project, noted that although regulatory approval plans for terrestrial use are not yet confirmed, success in space missions could catalyze the adoption of similar AI tools on Earth.
Possible benefits on Earth include:
Improved medical care in remote and underserved areas
Enhanced diagnostic accuracy and clinical decision support
Increased accessibility to healthcare expertise in environments lacking specialists
NASA and Google also envision that lessons learned from CMO-DA's development will accelerate innovation in the broader field of AI-driven medicine, ultimately improving patient care worldwide.
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