Medical

Colonization of Mars brings with it new challenges of how we approach medical considerations.

The danger to the crew of a space station or a spaceship being in confined quarters without the option of quarantining is a real worry for spaceflight planners,

NASA screens astronauts for basic medical conditions before allowing them to travel to the ISS even given an astronaut can return to Earth for treatment fairly quickly.

Importing viruses to Mars is not such an easy question either to answer, Initially with flights to Mars and the Mars colony making sure all the expedition members are well and mitigating as many illness possibilities as possible as medical facilities will be very limited.

When the 'New world' was being explored many new deadly diseases to the indigenous inhabitants were unwittingly carried sometimes wiping out entire populations, we need to understand the best way to work through how best to deal with how we screen pathogens from spreading from Earth, the subject of what is called Forward contamination is not just in regard to Humans but Planetary protection on the whole also including Earth introduced crops, insects and livestock protection.

Probably less of a concern is Back contamination - the introduction of extraterrestrial organisms and other forms of contamination into Earth's biosphere, this term also covers infection of humans and human habitats in space and on other celestial bodies by extraterrestrial organisms, if any are found to exist especially as multicellular life is thought unlikely.

Spaceships

Good health and fitness on long duration flights will be paramount to any crew, It will require rigorous fitness regimes using specialized equipment.

The first Mars mission currently seriously being considered by SpaceX is proposing an initial crew of 12 ('Mars One' also has some ideas but as of yet no Hardware) Part of any crew of this size of larger will require trained surgeons, doctors and dentist on board as there will be no option for a quick return to Earth.

Some limited medical/dental station on board will be required in case of any injuries as well as sickness(including mental issues), weightless surgery knowledge will be a vital skill. Star Trek's medical bay is not going to work, the main initial tools will be harness, bandages, screens and suction stations etc to keep fluids localised and not contaminating the spaceship as simple surgical procedures could endanger the lives of all on board a spacecraft if there is no way to prevent blood from filling the cabin due to blood pressure. Any operation in weightlessness will require special tools and will be limited, NASA and also the French have done some very limited experiments in "Zero G" aircraft with limited success particularly over the issue of fluids.

Medicines and medical supplies will be limited but should be sufficient for basic emergencies, but anything more complex will need to wait to be back in a gravity facility, not ideal for the patient, part of the risk of interplanetary travel until some form of artificial gravity is available and large enough spaceships even after the 100 crew SpaceX IPS spaceships currently being worked on, yet SpaceX already have plans for spacecraft with 200+ crew on the drawing board, we need to wait and see.

Known Medical issues in space

Space motion sickness

If you’re going on a mission to outer space, chances are you will suffer from space motion sickness or SMS. Excessive sweating, dizziness, nausea and vomiting affect three-quarters of all astronauts and, if severe, can be extremely disabling.

Infection

Without gravity, particles larger than a micron in size (which normally settle on the floor) remain in the cabin atmosphere, irritating lungs and eyes. Thirteen cases of minor infection were reported on Apollo 13 and a cold on Apollo 7 rapidly spread to shipmates. Even the common cold in microgravity the nose cannot drain, which causes sinuses to get backed up with fluid, resulting in aggravated headaches and increased risk of ear infection.

Headaches

Hang upside down for a few hours. Now your face is all red, your eyes are watering and you have a throbbing headache. Similarly, in space the lack of gravity causes accumulation of fluid in the head and sinuses.

Rashes

Cuts and scrapes are a frequent hazard when heading toward the final frontier. Floating particles can find their way into open wounds, causing infection and rashes. Inflatable spacesuits and other intergalactic garments like space gloves have been known to rub fingers raw and cause subungual haematomas.

Cardiac dysrhythmias

Numerous cases of heart-rhythm irregularities have been reported in outer-space missions. Some of these arrhythmias occurred following (and during) EVAs (extravehicular activities or ‘spacewalks’). Space expeditions have been cut short owing to these problems of the heart that are related to hypokalaemia, microgravity, changes in the autonomic nervous system and physical stress.

Decompression

Spacesuits, -ships, -shuttles and -stations must be pressurised in order for mere humans to survive in the low pressures of the cosmos. Unprotected space exposure leads to a number of pretty terrifying conditions – one of which is ebullism, the formation of gas bubbles in bodily fluids due to reduced environmental pressure. Death can be avoided with rapid recompression, before the bubbles will cause tissue damage beyond repair.

Anaesthetics

Quote from Pete Hodkinson ‘Surgery normally requires anaesthesia, and it’s unclear how the pharmacokinetics of many medications will work in microgravity compared with their use on Earth.'

Eyes

A NASA health survey of 300 astronauts, found that ‘30% of those that had flown on space shuttle missions for up to 2 weeks, and 60% who had completed 6-month intervals aboard the ISS, were diagnosed with eye problems including headaches and blurry vision.

Medicine on Mars

When on Mars the issue found in space regarding fluids is once more controllable, but unlike Earth the facilities will be very limited for some time to come of having an equivalency of anything approaching a Hospital on Earth, over years equipment will be shipped to Mars to enable what we can do here on Earth, Most medical techniques we know should work on Mars with relatively minor equipment changes for the lower gravity.

The first need on Mars will be to build some basic facility to handle any loss of pressure and Asphyxia problems quickly. Isolation quarters will also be important in the case of infectious diseases to reduce spreading, a robotic Nurse would be a benefit.

One major problem with supplying medicines from Earth to Mars is it's 'shelf-life', To overcome this a medical laboratory will be needed on Mars with all the equipment to produce the required medications, this again will take many years to build up.

Future

For the near future prevention and screening of diseases and the reduction of risk from accidents will be key, but as time and the number of colonists grow other longer term issues will come into play such as immunization from interplanetary contamination and long term bone and muscle loss stopping any return to Earth.

Will the first baby born on Mars be able to go to Earth or just view Earth from the Moon? Will their heart, lungs, skeleton and muscles be strong enough? maybe not!