What medical supplies would be necessary for a hypothetical 9 month trip to Mars for a crew of 25 people?
There are essentially two types of medical issues, those peculiar to space and those common to any small, isolated community. Space-peculiar issues include the need for exercise, space motion sickness, preparation for and adaptation to return to gravity at Mars and/or Earth, etc. These issues depend critically on the duration of the voyage, and thus on the form of propulsion available. For a nine month trip with 25 people you would need many common medications (antibiotics, analgesics, motion sickness medications, drugs required for advanced life support, intravenous fluids, sedatives, stimulants (for critical mission performance in an emergency), topicals, bandages and dressings, medical examination equipment, etc. One usually would only carry one or two medications of each type, but in sufficient quantity to treat several people. For a related PowerPoint presentation visit: http://medic.ksc.nasa.gov/edu/presentations/mars.ppt and also visit http://medic.ksc.nasa.gov/edu/project.html
