“If you want as a nation to have space exploration ambitions, you’ve got to send humans…”
Neil deGrasse Tyson
NASA has recently announced the Artemis program. This is plan to establish long term human settlements on the Moon. The ultimate goal being the development of experience and technology for a mission to Mars. One issue is the more sophisticated level of trauma and heath care that will need to be provided for longer and more remote space exploration. It turns out I have been thinking about this for years. Early in my career I became fascinated by the complexity of surgical care in space. I was actually asked to give a presentation on the topic at the 2000 SA Anaesthetists Annual Meeting. Above is the title slide of my address. I covered all sorts of issues. What are the projected trauma scenarios and illnesses? Do anaesthetics work in space? How do you restrain patients, surgeons and equipment? Does imaging work in space? Do antibiotics work in space? Does blood clot in space? Can remote/robotic surgery be carried out from earth? Also at the 2000 meeting was an International quest, the Medical Director of NASA. He joked I knew more about some of the topics than he did, suggesting I come and work for NASA if I had the time. Well I have a bit of free time now. #spacethefinalfrontier #letsmakelemonade
Pen Paint and Scalpel 