400. Development of Commercial Space Occupational Medicine Health Standards

Team

Research Area

3.0 Human Spaceflight

Project Description

The task is intended to review occupational standards for various populations working in
environments analogous to that found in a sub-orbital or orbital flight. Much research has been
established for space specific tasks in a highly physically and mentally screened population of
the astronaut corps. Previous FAA COE research has developed recommended standards for
primary crewmembers involved in flight operations as well as medical screening recommendations for commercial space passengers. This task is intended to define
recommendations for minimum standards for the population of workers performing humantended research or other relevant work in an orbital or sub-orbital environment. In this role, these space workers need to be capable of performing complex research tasks efficiently while managing their disease processes. In long-duration orbital flights, these individuals will have the additional responsibilities of activities of daily living and survival in space as well as
conducting research tasks which may be out of their area of expertise. Neurocognitive
adaptability and ability to work well with teams will be paramount in individuals with pre-existing
disease conditions.
The “Flight Crew Medical Standards and Spaceflight Participant Medical Acceptance Guidelines for Commercial Space Flight” (30 June 2012) will provide the initial framework for reviewing medical standards applicable to an occupational scientist space flight participant population. Analogs for occupational medical standards and diseases/illnesses in extreme environments will be reviewed as well. The literature for analogous occupational medical standards and disease states will include the working population of US National Science Foundation grantees and employees working in Antarctica. This is a pre-screened population with a significant underlying disease burden that performs scientific experiments and other work in an austere environment with minimal access to medical care, analogous to a “civil servant” or contracted type of human flying in space for the purpose of tending experiments for commercial or government entities. Other similar pre-employment and periodic physical/medical standards will also be reviewed as well as existing HERA study information and commercial diving (NOAA standards) and submarine data, and military studies on mission impacts of disease burden.
Crew screening and the influences of disease and crew dynamics will be reviewed using
literature and case reports from long distance sailing crews and small endurance expedition
crews as analogs.

Project Outcomes

This proposal is broken into two phases:
Phase 1
Review current literature regarding medical standards for populations analogous to a group of scientists performing experiments and survival-related tasks in an orbital/suborbital environment (at a lesser qualification standard than astronaut).
Define the human factors that would jeopardize participant health or mission completion and perform a preliminary review of appropriate monitoring and testing hardware and software:
1. PSYCHOLOGICAL: The study will review existing psychological data from isolation experiments (HERA, etc.) to apply factors that positively influence a participant’s ability to cope with isolation and group dynamics to a lay population.
2. NEUROCOGNITIVE: The study will identify tasks and review task
performance to ascertain whether or not lay persons/scientists are
adaptable to learn basic tasks for operating a habitat/orbital vehicle
(managing meals, waste, minor repairs) while performing scientific tasks.
3. EFFECT OF DISEASE: The study will identify measures of the physical manifestations of disease, and tasks related to common diseases, that a participant would likely be required to manage in orbit amid performing crewmember tasks (for example checking blood sugar, taking antihypertensive medications, etc.).
4. EFFECT OF MICROGRAVITY ON DISEASE: The study will identify common diseases and appropriate monitoring of those diseases that could be accomplished in a microgravity environment.
Phase 2
Based on literature review and identified human factors of interest defined in Phase 1, develop or determine appropriate tests and monitoring to study the following:
1. PSYCHOLOGICAL: The study will apply and study factors that positively influence a participant’s ability to cope with isolation and group dynamics to a lay population.
2. NEUROCOGNITIVE: The study identify and test neurocognitive
components translatable to non-astronaut crew performing tasks such as scientific studies and augmenting a professional crew with some basic crew duties.
3. EFFECT OF DISEASE: The study will examine participants’ ability to monitor and control their disease process while performing crewmember tasks and activities of daily living required for survival. (for example, diabetes/checking blood sugar, taking antihypertensive medications, etc.).
4. EFFECT OF MICROGRAVITY ON DISEASE: The study will examine the effect of short duration exposure to the microgravity environment on common diseases and their management in an occupational setting (hypertension, diabetes, etc.).

Summary of Output