Category: Technology and Innovation

The Technology and Innovation sub-team explores the scientific, engineering, and medical advancements necessary to support long-term space habitation. Our goal is to identify, evaluate, and propose novel technologies—including AI-driven health systems, life support infrastructure, and resource recycling methods—that can sustain human life in orbital settlements and beyond. We aim to bridge theoretical innovation with practical application, guiding future designs for resilient and self-sufficient space communities.

In light of recent global advancements in artificial intelligence, our sub-team has focused on exploring how AI can enable and enhance future spaceflight technologies. This semester, we participated in the NC State Space Symposium, where we presented on the past, present, and future of space development and exploration. Our research has centered on NASA’s proposed precision space health (PSH) systems, which aim to use AI for real-time astronaut monitoring and personalized healthcare recommendations during long-duration missions. We have examined how AI can help overcome key challenges in isolated and extreme environments—such as mental health tracking, limited-resource decision-making, and data model adaptability—with the ultimate goal of helping space agencies prepare for safe, autonomous missions to the Moon and Mars.

Abstract: NASA has proposed the development of precision space health (PSH) systems to provide comprehensive medical assistance on long duration exploratory missions in order to compensate for time delays in communication with ground control. Such systems require continuous biomonitoring of both the shuttle and its occupants and integration of AI tools to collect data on astronauts in real-time, with the intent of providing personalized recommendations for preventive and emergency medical care. Such a system, however, remains highly theoretical, and the use of personalized AI tools to provide recommendations – which have historically been provided by on-the-ground specialists – comes with significant challenges. These include: 1) optimizing limited resources and providing specialized knowledge for potentially unforeseen health incidents in hazardous conditions, 2) integrating non-invasive data collection methods for astronauts’ mental and physical health, 3) developing recommendations for population groups with little pre-existing data, and 4) updating computing models in real-time without access to ground-based data processing facilities. Our project addresses these challenges by identifying data collection and model deployment opportunities in near-term lunar missions through expert consultations, identifying potential mental and physical health issues that may arise based on data from other isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments, and highlighting data gaps where continuous monitoring may fail to effectively predict health outcomes. We have taken an interdisciplinary approach to our work, looking at the challenge of providing personalized healthcare not just from medical and engineering perspectives, but through historical and policy-informed approaches as well. The goal of our project, which is being conducted under the Duke Bass Connections “Future of Space Settlements” initiative, is to help NASA and other spacefaring entities prepare for unknowns in personal healthcare delivery using AI assistants in isolated, unpredictable, and dangerous conditions, in order to be best prepared for future missions to the Moon and eventually to Mars.

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