Lunar Medical Inc. (LMI) combines medicine and technology for a new world in the fields of systems architecture, artificial intelligence, and autonomous medical care.
Technology advancements for space travel have a long history of helping humanity on Earth. Lunar Medical is dedicated to making spaceflight medical advancements accessible to everyone. They are solving the challenges of providing medical support in spaceflight by developing autonomous medical support capabilities and leveraging recent developments in biomedical technology, artificial intelligence, precision medicine, and biosensing.
They envision a future where the best medical care is accessible to everyone at any time.
Studying the Possibilities
LMI was developed due to a research program that studied the medical difficulties people encounter in harsh conditions.
NASA and Canadian Space Agency-funded work by LMI’s leads, including research conducted on:
- Psychological stressors in Antarctic over-winter personnel
- Telemedical support simulations conducted at Devon Island’s Haughton Mars Project Research Station (HMPRS), the NASA-CSA-DLR In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) expedition on Mauna Kea in Hawaii and the Eureka Weather Station on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic.
These remote locations act as Space-Analogue Environments and stimulate spaceflight’s remote and harsh conditions. Remote and rural medical care can be improved with the advanced system concepts that are now being developed to deliver healthcare on the Moon or Mars.
Lunar Medical developed from this vision to create autonomous, superior medical care systems for spaceflight, bring that technology back to Earth, and ensure state-of-the-art medicine anywhere, anytime, for everyone.
Working on Projects
Lunar Medical’s list of projects includes the following:
- Advanced Crew Medical System (ACMS)
For the Canadian Space Agency, Lunar Medical finished the comprehensive design of a prototype Advanced Crew Medical System (ACMS) in 2016. The ambitious and all-encompassing ACMS is a spaceflight medical support system managed by LMI with the assistance of a group of subject matter experts and commercial subcontractors, MDA of Brampton, Ontario, and GlobVision of Montreal, Quebec.
- Synthetic Intelligence for Medical Assessment and Treatment (SIMAT)
The Canadian Space Agency’s Space Technology Development Program (STDP) funds the project that lays the groundwork for a synthetic cognitive decision support system for medical diagnosis while in space and will involve a preliminary validation of that system. The Synthetic Intelligence for Medical Assessment and Treatment (SIMAT) will simulate human cognitive diagnosis by applying decision algorithms, statistical analysis, pattern recognition, and machine learning.
- Personality and Social Modelling Of Proactive Deterrence With Bayesian Graphical Networks
LMI is applying their expertise in AI to model global international relations at multiple levels of abstraction. The research evaluates leader, national, and state-level inputs in a complete probabilistic computer model to proactively inform policy and measures to prevent state and non-state aggression
- BONES – A Biomedical Onboard Network and Expert System
BONES is a proposal for artificial intelligence-based medical decision support that aims to
1) Support Crew Medical Officers (CMOs) and crewmembers with diagnostic and therapeutic decisions and
2) monitor their health and identify potential problems early.
This system supports crewmembers in detecting illness and performance declines early and returning to healthy and effective performance levels more rapidly through monitoring, surveillance, and diagnosis support.
- AstroSim: A spaceflight human patient simulator and training framework for advanced crew medical skills maintenance
With the ability to influence medical system design for an upcoming long-duration spaceflight, AstroSim offers a comprehensive simulation system for preflight training, evaluation, and technology assessment.
Leading with Knowledge
David Musson is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Lunar Medical Inc. He is a physician and cognitive psychologist whose research interests include cognitive neuroscience, artificial intelligence, medical education, and spaceflight and aerospace medicine.
He studied astronomy and physics before receiving his MD at the University of Western Ontario. After receiving his degree, he joined the Canadian Air Force and worked as a flight surgeon in the Middle East, Europe, and Canada. After leaving the forces, he practiced general medicine, urgent care and mental health medicine in Toronto, Canada.
In 1998, Dr. Musson began graduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, where he completed a Ph.D. in psychology with a minor in aerospace engineering. His research at Texas focused on human personality structure and high-performance teams in aviation, space, and medicine. He studied under renowned aviation human factors pioneer Robert Helmreich.
When Dr. Musson moved back to Canada in 2005, he joined the McMaster University faculty and started the Center for Simulation-Based Learning.
He created simulation systems using aviation training models to enhance patient safety and lower medical errors for MD and medical specialty training programs. In addition, Dr. Musson has researched how to provide medical treatment in isolated and remote areas, including studying those areas as terrestrial analogues to spaceflight.
While at McMaster, Dr. Musson started collaborating with Dr. Thomas Doyle, a fellow McMaster faculty member specializing in Computer and Biomedical Engineering. Together, they founded Lunar Medical Inc. in 2012 and completed a series of technology assessments and concept studies in medical technology for the Canadian Space Agency.
Lunar Medicals bring development through research. To learn more about their study, visit their website at https://www.lunarmedical.com/.
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