Wojdecka, Anna, Balint, Tibor and Platt, Don, 2025, Book Section, Future astronaut-agent medical collaboration opportunities for long-duration human spaceflight IAC 2025 congress proceedings, 76th International Astronautical Congress (IAC):. International Astronautical Federation (IAF), Sydney, Australia, pp. 1-11.
| Abstract or Description: | Current medical care of astronauts in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) heavily relies on ground support. However, futurelong-duration human spaceflight (LDHSF) and exploration-class missions will require novel approaches to design ofsystems sustaining the health and safety of astronaut crews. Prolonged exposure to the harsh environment will impactevery aspect of crews' health, from microgravity-induced changes to human physiology and psychological challengesof living in remote confinement, to cognitive decline due to radiation exposure. Medical decision-making will requireoptimizing scarce resources alongside prioritizing prevention and early detection.Leveraging emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and biofeedback, along with robotics, presentsopportunities for designing novel medical systems that enable astronauts to collaborate with agents as Cyber-Physical-Human (CPH) teams. Although trust and role assignment are well-understood foundations of effective collaborationin healthcare teams and physician-patient relationships on Earth, the astronaut-agent trust-driven synergistic medicalcollaboration during LDHSF remains largely unexplored.To address this gap, we adapted a human-centred design approach, developing new research tools fortransdisciplinary collaboration involving diverse stakeholders, including space medicine, astronaut and training,human factors, human-centered design, engineering, and human-computer interaction. We conducted qualitativeinterviews and ran a series of Subject Matter Expert (SME) workshops titled 'Future Health(care) Space Systems:Designing-In Trust into Cyber-Physical Teams and Trustworthy Human-Agent Interactions'.This paper presents key insights into the challenges and opportunities of CPH trust-driven medical collaboration.We discuss the human-agent shared decision-making and role allocations, encompassing training, prevention, earlydetection, diagnosis, treatment selection, and care delivery. Lastly, we present transdisciplinary recommendations fordesigning new CPH-oriented interfaces that capitalize on the strengths of both humans and agents and foster designing-in justifiable trust in the design of future CPH-team-oriented medical systems. |
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| School or Centre: | School of Design Other |
| Funders: | This research was supported by the NASA LangleyResearch Center, the Goddard Space Flight Center, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute ofTechnology, through a grant awarded to the first and third authors (Grant Award Number: 22-1-T10.05- |
| Identification Number or DOI: | 10.52202/083091-0024 |
| Date Deposited: | 28 Jan 2026 11:00 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Feb 2026 00:07 |
| URI: | https://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/id/eprint/6748 |
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