NASA, in collaboration with Google, is working on creating artificial intelligence to provide medical assistance to astronauts during long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.
This is reported by Finway
New Digital Medical Assistant for Space
As part of the joint project, NASA and Google are developing the Crew Medical Officer Digital Assistant (CMO-DA), which will serve as a digital aide for diagnosing and treating astronauts in situations where contacting a doctor or establishing communication with Earth is not possible. The technology is being developed using Google Cloud’s Vertex AI environment, which integrates speech recognition, text processing, and medical image analysis.
The development is being conducted under Google Public Sector, with NASA owning the source code and participating in additional model training. Testing has already been conducted in three typical medical scenarios simulating an ankle injury, side pain, and ear pain. The evaluation was carried out by three doctors, including an astronaut. The system demonstrated a probability of correctly diagnosing and prescribing treatment at levels of 74%, 80%, and 88%, depending on the case.
Opportunities for Development and Application on Earth
“According to Google Public Sector engineer David Crowley, the project roadmap includes a gradual expansion of functionality. The developers plan to integrate data from medical devices and train a ‘situational awareness’ model considering the specifics of space medicine, such as microgravity.”
NASA views the new AI assistant as a key component of the ‘Earth-independent medical care’ strategy, which is becoming increasingly important in light of the extended duration of space expeditions. Google has not yet clarified whether permissions will be obtained for implementing such an assistant in ground medical facilities, but successful use of this technology in orbit could pave the way for its application on Earth.
The experience of developing and testing the CMO-DA, according to David Crowley, could significantly impact not only medical support for space missions but also enhance medical care in terrestrial conditions.