NASA x Google: Developing an Autonomous Medical Assistant
Keeping crew health becomes more difficult as human spaceflight missions get longer and travel further from Earth. Presently, astronauts on the International Space Station depend on direct contact with Houston without an AI medical assistant, ongoing medical supplies deliveries, and the choice to return home quickly after a six-month term. But this scenario could change shortly as NASA, working with commercial partners like Elon Musk’s SpaceX, gets ready for longer flights intended to send people to Mars and the Moon.
This approaching reality is motivating NASA to gradually improve on-orbit medical care to be more independent from Earth. An AI medical assistant under development with Google is among the first investigations along this line. Designed to help astronauts diagnose and treat...