Future Astronauts Will be Able to Perform Surgery on Each Other

Astronauts traveling to Mars or other distant destinations will face all kinds of medical problems, but rocket science isn’t surgery. And vice versa. A new augmented reality system could help astronauts take care of each other, overlaying computer graphics over a real patient to guide diagnoses or even surgery. It could even improve telemedicine in developing countries or remote spots.

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For now, the Computer Assisted Medical Diagnosis and Surgery System, CAMDASS, only works with ultrasound, which is already available on the International Space Station. But the goal is to use it for any biomedical procedures future astronauts might need, according to the European Space Agency.

CAMDASS users don a 3-D display headcam, which includes an infrared camera to track the ultrasound device. Markers placed on a patient’s body denote sites of interest, and the system recognizes the patient and calibrates the display according to the CAMDASS wearer’s vision, an ESA news release explains. The headset displays little floating cue cards in the wearer’s field of vision, which match up with the markers on the real patient. Aligning the markers helps the user position the ultrasound probe, or whatever other device is needed. Then reference images show what the CAMDASS wearer should be seeing.

The ESA tested a prototype of this device with medical and nursing students, paramedics and Belgian Red Cross workers at Saint-Pierre University Hospital in Brussels. The CAMDASS testers could perform a “reasonably difficult” ultrasound procedure without any other help, the space agency said.

Augmented reality can be pretty fun to play with, but the practical applications of a real-life informational overlay are limitless. This is one reason why DARPA wants AR contact lenses that would require no bulky headgear. We've even seen an AR concept in which a would-be home mechanic can learn how to repair a car.

Similarly, this ESA device could be useful long before anyone takes it to Mars. It could help improve diagnostics in developing countries, for instance, or in remote locations like Antarctic research stations. Workers there have had to complete their fair share of self-diagnostics. The ESA now wants to conduct further tests.

Want to Become an Astronaut? NASA is Hiring Astronauts!

WASHINGTON — Looking for a job? NASA is hiring astronauts. You can even apply online at a giant government jobs website.

There's only one hitch: NASA doesn't have its own spaceship anymore and is sending fewer fliers into orbit right now.

"The experience is well worth the wait," promised NASA flight crew operations director Janet Kavandi as the space agency started a public search Tuesday for new astronauts.

 There will be flights, but not many, with the space shuttle fleet retired. A handful of astronauts each year are launching on a Russian Soyuz spaceship to the International Space Station for six-month stays.Environment Clean Generations

In about three to five years, NASA hopes to purchase trips for astronauts headed to the space station on American-built commercial rockets instead. And eventually, NASA hopes to fly astronauts in a government owned Orion capsule to an asteroid or even Mars, but those pioneering trips are more than a decade away.

With veteran astronauts leaving the space agency, Kavandi said NASA is afraid it will not have enough astronauts, something a National Research Council report pointed out in September.

NASA needs about 55 astronauts, and with a new class of nine graduating earlier this month, the astronaut roster is up to 58. One of those new astronauts will get to fly to the space station as early as 2013, Kavandi said.

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"We're ready to serve, we're ready to get going," new astronaut Serena Aunon said Tuesday at NASA headquarters.

So to find candidates, NASA on Tuesday unveiled what its personnel chief called its biggest ever push to hire new astronauts – with dozens of cheering elementary school students there to ask questions.

In the past – when NASA had a space shuttle – the space agency didn't make such a big deal of searching for astronauts, and they were inundated with applications. This new drive comes with a YouTube recruitment video complete with flashy images and driving techno-beat background music.

"We need you to help plan for this future of exploration," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden says in the video. "Join NASA. Get your application in now for the 2013 astronaut candidate class. Your spaceflight experience begins right now."

But before you polish up your resume, NASA isn't loosening its standards. You must have at least a bachelor's degree – most astronauts have a master's or a doctorate – in engineering, biological science, physical science or math. You must learn Russian, but be a U.S. citizen. You must know basic physics. Being a medical doctor or a teacher helps. You must have vision that can be corrected to 20/20, no high blood pressure and be between 5 foot 2 inches and 6 foot 3 inches.

Given these tight requirements, NASA will still probably get 3,000 qualified applicants, Kavandi said. The job pays between $64,700 and $141,700.

And if you are hired expect to do lots of traveling to foreign countries, Kavandi said. And oh yes, maybe into space.

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Mars 500 "We're Ready To Go"

Six-strong crew will emerge from spacecraft at Russian facility on Friday

Project aimed to simulate effects of journey to Red Planet

Carried out experiments and a 'space walk' in Moscow car park

Scientists will need a year to sift through data before deciding next step

Six astronauts will 'return home' this week after spending 520 days in a windowless capsule on a simulated mission to Mars.
They will emerge from their spacecraft - an isolation facility at the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems (RIBP) in Moscow - on Friday.

But they are already looking forward triumphantly to the ever-realistic possibility of sending man to the Red Planet for real.

The last leg: The Mars500 crew, pictured here in September, will finally emerge from their capsule in Russian on Friday after a 520-day mock mission to Mars. One of the astronauts on board, French engineer Romain Charles, said in a recent diary entry: 'Our international crew went through the Mars500 mission successfully and we're happy and proud to answer positively to the question asked a year-and-a-half ago: 'Is man able to endure, physiologically and psychologically, the confinement of a trip to Mars?' Yes, we're ready to go!'

The $15million Mars500 project is being conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the RIBP with the aim of imitating a complete mission to Mars.

Since the astronauts boarded on June 3 last year, they have undergone experiments, carried out 'Mars Walks' in a car park outside a Moscow block of flats and monitored their own mental health and wellbeing.

Collating data: The crew conducted various experiments on themselves to understand the physical and psychological demands of a long space mission. But perhaps importantly, they weren't able to simulate anti-gravity.

To make the simulation realistic, the crew experienced delayed communication with mission controllers at certain points during the trip.                                                                 
Researchers hope to use data to better understand the physical and psychological challenges that astronauts will face on real deep-space journey.
However, they were not able to re-create the effects of gravity or radiation, leaving some potential gaps in their results.

Astronaut Christer Fuglesang, who heads the science and application division at the Directorate of Human Spaceflight and Operations at ESA, told Space.com: 'The length of Mars500 is unique — there has never been such a long isolation before, so that gives you unique data. 

'From a logistics and communications point of view, it was quite realistic. Of course, there are certain aspects that you cannot simulate. You cannot simulate weightlessness or radiation, for example.'
The project was also useful in determining at what point in long-duration flights humans struggle most - and finding ways to help astronauts cope.

'They have had their ups and downs, but these were to be expected,' Patrik Sundblad, a human life sciences specialist at ESA, said.
'August was the mental low point: it was the most monotonous phase of the mission, their friends and families were on vacation and didn't send so many messages, and there was also little variation in food.

'But we didn't have any kind of hiccup or crisis inside. I did not expect anything major, but it's still been going even better than I could hope for. I'm astonished.'
The crew - made up of Mr Charles, Italian engineer Diego Urbina, Russian physiologist Alexandr Smoleevski, Russian surgeon Sukhrob Kamolov, Russian engineer Alexey Sitev and Chinese astronaut trainer Wang Yue - will remain in medical quarantine for at least three days after they emerge from the hatch.

It is expected to take scientists about a year to analyse the results and decide what step to take next.

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