NASA tests telemedicine and collects important health data with the Polaris Dawn crew

NASA researchers will soon benefit from a series of experiments conducted aboard a new fully commercial human spaceflight mission, strengthening the agency's future science on its journey to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

The experiments are part of the Polaris Dawn mission, which launched today aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and a Falcon 9 rocket.

The four-person Polaris Dawn crew of Jared Isaacman, Scott “Kidd” Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon will conduct science during the mission, including important health and human performance research for NASA's Human Research Program. The research will help NASA scientists better understand how space conditions affect the human body. The crew will test new medical approaches and technologies for telemedicine capabilities, collect data on space sickness and better characterize flight-related injury risks.

“Every mission, whether the crew is made up of commercial or NASA astronauts, represents an important opportunity to advance our knowledge of how spaceflight affects human health,” said Jancy McPhee, NASA's deputy chief scientist for human research. “The information collected by Polaris Dawn will provide us with important insights that will help NASA plan deeper spaceflights to the Moon and Mars.”

The crew will make a test drive^, a commercial device that can collect and integrate health data such as blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate and temperature. The technology also offers ultrasound imaging and video camera capabilities focused on the larynx and throat, and includes an experimental telemedicine feature that could help diagnose crew members in near real time.

To test this technology during the mission, crew members will compare the device's vital signs with data collected during standard regular health checks. The technology's telemedicine feature, which relies on SpaceX's Starlink communications system to connect with doctors and specialists on Earth, will also be tested during a simulation. During the test, the device will attempt to make an appropriate diagnosis based on crew input and available documentation..

“Crew members need to be more independent on longer missions and we hope that crew telemedicine can help with that,” McPhee said.

Another research project aims to better understand and prevent the symptoms of motion sickness that many astronauts experience in space. Participating crew members describe their motion sickness symptoms, what measures they have tried to alleviate their symptoms, and whether any approaches have helped.

As part of a separate NASA research project, crew members will be interviewed after their mission to determine whether they suffered any injuries or discomfort during re-entry to Earth.

“Our team will combine crew examination data with information collected from sensors on the spacecraft. This will allow us to link crew-reported experiences and health outcomes to spacecraft dynamics and landing loads,” said Preston Greenhalgh, an injury biomechanist at NASA who is leading this work.

Crew members will also participate in a number of other health studies under the NASA-funded Translational Research Institute for Health (TRISH), a consortium of several academic institutions. As part of this work, the Polaris Dawn mission will establish a new foundation for collecting standardized health data on commercial spaceflights, complementing the data sets routinely collected by NASA astronauts and missions.

Polaris Dawn crew members participating in these TRISH studies will provide data on how spaceflight affects mental and physical health through a series of rigorous medical tests and scans conducted before, after and during the mission. The work includes assessments of behavior, sleep, bone density, eye health, cognitive function and other factors, as well as analyses of blood, urine and breathing.

“We are grateful to the crew members who volunteer to participate in NASA's work. The insights we gain from each study can spark breakthroughs that help ensure the success of future missions,” McPhee said.

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NASA's Human Research Program seeks the best methods and technologies to support safe and productive human spaceflight. Through scientific investigations in laboratories, ground-based analogues, commercial missions, and the International Space Station, the program studies how spaceflight affects the human body and behavior. This research furthers NASA's mission to develop innovative methods to keep astronauts healthy and ready to fly while expanding space exploration to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.