The Steinberg Centre for Simulation and Interactive Learning hosts the Canadian Space Agency’s Health Beyond Initiative. After a period of relative quiet from NASA, the space program is entering into an exciting and dramatic newphase as it looks to deep space missions with the ultimate goal of a manned trip to Mars. As a step towards this goal,the plan is to return to the moon and start a colony there as a stepping stone to deep space exploration. The logistics of this plan are daunting since long-term
habitation on the moon (384,400 km from Earth) is dramatically different from long-term missions on the internationalspace station (400 km from earth). Health care for astronauts dwelling for extended periods on the moon and management of medical emergencies are critical issues to be addressed in preparation for such missions.
Canada has earned a seat in space exploration, thanks in large part to the importance of the CanadaArm, now in its 3rditeration. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) now sees an opportunity to increase its contribution further by making a bid to take the lead on health care for the Space Beyond Program. This would involve healthcare training of astronauts, developing technology to support healthcare in deep space, and developing solutions to help manage emergencies. It is assumed that acute healthcare problems are more likely to occur during these long missions in an environment of reduced gravity and radiationexposure, and care would be complicated because any communications would be plagued with delays due to the distance, and periods of time when complete loss of communication would occur.
As Canada bids to take on this role, the CSA has established a number of programs to demonstrate to the world that wehave unmatched capabilities in this field. One such program is the Deep Space Healthcare Challenge (DSHC). In the first phase the CSA put out a call to vendors to develop technology to support healthcare in deep space. Under the lead of Dr. Dan Deckelbaum, The Steinberg Centre for Simulation and Interactive Learning entered a competitive bid process to be the centre to evaluate such technologies and we were delighted to win this contract. On November 21,2023 we welcomed the CSA, the 5 finalist vendors, and a distinguished jury for a demonstration event at our centre. It was an amazing event, and we were very proud to have it in our home.
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The next phase will be the design of containers, like those that are hauled by semi trucks, placed on rail cars, and onfreighter ships. Each container in the competition will showcase integrated technology that would serve as the medical care hub on the moon. Our responsibility will be to provide feedback to the vendors, set criteria for their assessment, and to set plans to test these modules in remote areas of Canada, which are traditionally underserved. Our trauma andglobal surgery teams have long supported healthcare in the remote areas of Quebec and underserved areas of theworld. They are very attuned to needs and strategies to provide remote care. We see this as an opportunity, not only tohelp the CSA but also to make an important contribution to improving healthcare resources in these remote and challenging environments.
Our team was invited to the CSA on December 1 to prepare for this next challenge. This was an amazing opportunity to see the great work that the CSA are doing, to build relationships with the CSA team and to discuss strategies around this exciting initiative for Canada to increase our contribution to this next frontier. A big thank you to Dr. Deckelbaum for leading this exciting initiative.
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