Multidisciplinary Expertise for Exploration Medical System Design

The design of exploration class missions that send crews beyond low-Earth orbit has uncovered challenging crew health and performance (CHP) needs not previously faced in human spacef light. The engineers who design and build the medical systems integrated into a habitat and the clinicians who ultimately use those systems to provide care to astronauts must work together with a common language and design processes to effectively address such needs. This article proposes adapting systems engineering tools to provide a streamlined, thorough, and efficient method for communicating between clinical and engineering disciplines to advance human health and performance in space.