NASA and Google are building an AI medical assistant to keep Mars-bound astronauts healthy

NASA and Google are collaborating to develop an AI-powered medical assistant to support astronauts during long-duration space missions, particularly to Mars. The tool, which runs on Google Cloud's Vertex AI platform, is designed to provide comprehensive healthcare support to astronauts, including speech, text, and image-based interactions. The AI assistant is expected to help astronauts monitor their health, diagnose and manage medical conditions, and access relevant medical information. This is particularly crucial for missions to Mars, where the distance and communication delays would make it challenging for astronauts to receive timely medical support from Earth. The project aims to leverage the latest advancements in natural language processing, computer vision, and predictive analytics to create a robust and reliable medical assistant. This collaboration between NASA and Google is part of a broader effort to ensure the health and safety of astronauts during long-duration space exploration missions.