Shuttle astronaut Scott Parazynski taking a blood sample from Astronaut John Glenn aboard STS-95

At least one member of a Mars mission crew will be a doctor and another will be a medically trained assistant. All crewmembers will be trained in first aid (as astronauts are today). The doctor will have medicines and equipment to monitor vital signs such as heart rate and blood pressure. The ability to test blood, visualize internal organs, administer medication, and perform minor surgery will be needed in flight and on Mars.

Based on current data from U.S. and Russian spaceflights, submarine experience, Antarctic base experiences, and military aviators, significant illness or injury rates (requiring emergency room or hospital admittance) is about 0.06 per person per year. 
 

For a Mars mission of six crew-members lasting 2½ years, the estimated incidence rate is 0.90 or about 1 person per mission. The expected incidence rate of a serious illness requiring intensive care support is about 0.02 per person per year, or once in three Mars missions. This type of serious illness would occupy the medical doctor’s time and require additional support from the ground.

Astronaut Kathryn Hire, mission specialist, taking a lung function test aboard STS-90

Communication between Mars and Earth does not happen instantly due to the great distance between the planets. Once a crewmember sends a question to a doctor on Earth, it will take between 7 and 40 minutes to receive an answer (depending on the distance between the planets). 
 

Telemedicine or the delivery of medical support via communications systems (usually to remote locations) is accomplished with computers, camera imaging, and audio systems here on Earth. Telemedicine techniques will be used during the flight to Mars, and at the Martian outpost to monitor crewmembers in the habitat and for those who are outside exploring the surface.  For more about telemedicine, click here.

Questions to think about:

 
• Does the possible risk of one person in six in a Mars mission having a serious illness affect your ideas about whether we should send humans to Mars? Why or why not? 
• What types of environments here on Earth could benefit from the use of telemedicine techniques?

Microgravity: Zero g and Mars g