With NASA eyeing long-duration crewed missions to the moon and beyond in the coming years, it has to be sure that if a medical situation arises, the astronauts are well equipped to deal with it.

Currently, crews heading to the International Space Station (ISS) receive training for basic medical procedures and medicines, as well as for things like intravenous fluid administration, intubation, wound care, and basic emergency response.

But future missions that take humans hundreds of thousands — or even millions — of miles from Earth, potentially for years at a time, will add a new layer of complexity to health management.

With that in mind, the U.S. space agency has partnered with Google on a project aimed at ensuring crew health and wellness on long-duration missions.

The initiative includes an investigation into whether remote care capabilities can offer detailed diagnoses and treatment options when a health issue falls outside of the astronauts’ knowledge base, and when real-time communication with Earth is limited. 

NASA and Google’s work involves a proof-of-concept for an automated Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) known as the “Crew Medical Officer Digital Assistant” (CMO-DA). 

“Designed to assist astronauts with medical help during extended space missions, this multi-modal interface leverages AI,” Google said in an online post.

It said the CMO-DA tool could help astronauts “autonomously diagnose and treat symptoms when crews are not in direct contact with Earth-based medical experts.”

It added: “Trained on spaceflight literature, the AI system uses cutting-edge natural language processing and machine learning techniques to safely provide real-time analyses of crew health and performance. The tool is designed to support a designated crew medical officer or flight surgeon in maintaining crew health and making medical decisions driven by data and predictive analytics.”

Early results from initial trials have “showed promise” for obtaining reliable diagnoses based on reported symptoms. 

Moving forward, NASA and Google are now working with medical doctors to improve the technology with a view to using it on future space missions.

As part of NASA’s Artemis program, astronauts could one stay for extended periods aboard a lunar satellite — similar to how they live and work aboard the ISS today — or even on the moon itself. More ambitious endeavors, such as to Mars, are also on the cards, but aren’t expected to take place until the 2030s at the earliest.