Star Trek\u2019s fictional Dr. \u201cBones\u201d McCoy may have had a tricorder, but NASA astronauts could soon have something almost as futuristic and real: An artificial intelligence (AI)-powered medical assistant that can diagnose and help treat illnesses millions of miles from Earth.<\/p>\n
Google and NASA are testing the \u201cCrew Medical Officer Digital Assistant,\u201d an AI-powered system to help astronauts with their healthcare needs during extended space missions to the moon, Mars or even farther out, according to a Aug. 7 Google blog post<\/a>. Such long-range missions can experience a lag in communications with those on Earth.<\/p>\n \u201cCurrently, low Earth orbit missions such as those to the International Space Station have frequent and relatively robust connectivity to allow for close collaboration with ground-based support teams,\u201d David Cruley<\/a>, customer engineer of Google Cloud Platform, told PYMNTS. \u201cHowever, as distance from the Earth increases, so will latency and communication gaps.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The communication lag can be as long as 22 minutes one-way on a mission to Mars, according to an April report from NASA, \u201cAssessment of the State of Communication Delay Research in Preparation for Missions Beyond Low Earth Orbit<\/a>.\u201d Missions to the moon can experience latencies of three to 14 seconds one-way, but Mars missions can have up to a 22-minute one-way delay or 44 minutes round-trip. <\/p>\n Since every second counts in a medical emergency, the AI doctor steps into the gap while the crew waits for connectivity to catch up.<\/p>\n While there will be\u00a0a human medical officer on board the spacecraft, Cruley said more information and support might be needed in diagnosing medical issues, especially for longer-range space missions. Moreover, if the medical officer is the one with the health problem, the rest of the crew would need help from the AI-powered doctor.<\/p>\n This development comes at a time when NASA is preparing for a new stage of space missions, starting with the Artemis<\/a> campaign to set up its first long-term presence on the moon. The space agency said on its website that an exploration of the moon will yield scientific discovery, technology advancement and lessons on living and working \u201con another world as we prepare for human missions to Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n Google and NASA said on the Google post they are currently in the initial phases of testing the AI space doctor. It has undergone preliminary trials in which a panel consisting of doctors and an astronaut evaluated its performance in simulated medical scenarios, Cruley told PYMNTS. <\/p>\n \u201cThe next step is to continue testing the model with medical doctors to enhance its accuracy and reliability,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The AI doctor is trained on spaceflight data and uses natural language processing and machine learning to give astronauts timely, data-driven guidance for managing medical issues during missions.<\/p>\n