Why is telemedicine important to future exploration missions?
Telemedicine is important; it’s a key tool that we’re going to use to provide medical care to astronauts on the way to the moon and Mars. It’s important in spaceflight; it’s important in the care of patients around the world. A good example is Katrina. There are patients who are severely impacted in a negative way by Katrina and that disaster. They don’t have adequate medical care because the doctors are separated from them. If you provide a simple telecommunication link, you can have expert medical care in the midst of New Orleans, for example, the same way you can link the doctor with the crew medical officer on an exploration mission. What are the similarities between saturation diving and life undersea and living in a space vehicle or on another planetary body? Saturation diving is a good parallel for spaceflight. The first similarity is that it is an extreme environment. Underwater saturation diving is like living in space. The habitats are similar. The Aquarius habitat is about t
