Building a Space-Faring Civilization

Advancing the Renaissance of Science, Medicine and Human Performance in Civilian Spaceflight

Michael Schmidt A, Marianne Legato J

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9780443138515
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Biology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Building a Space-Faring Civilization: Advancing the Renaissance of Science, Medicine, and Human Performance in Civilian Spaceflight explores an expanding, unique new trajectory for humankind—the settlement of space by civilians. For the first time in history, average humans can contemplate journeys to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars with the idea of space settlement as a plausible reality. As the numbers of spacefaring civilians grow, medical personnel will be asked to meet their complex needs through an ever-expanding discipline—space medicine. But this will require a rapidly advancing science to address what some are calling the next great age in space.This book gathers some of the most accomplished thought leaders in the field of human spaceflight today. Collectively, they helped build the international space station (ISS), develop the field of orbital medicine, guide the development of commercial orbital platforms, plan missions to the Moon and Mars, and forge the innovation necessary for the commercial spaceflight industry to thrive today. The result is an exceptional source of wisdom, experience, and insight surrounding the current biomedical, technical, industrial, legal, and social implications of what is emerging as a true renaissance period in human history. - Describes the lessons learned from past explorers from the Renaissance to the present, and how they can guide space exploration today - Characterizes the risks encountered in the exploration and settlement of different domains of space - Surveys the types of medical incidents civilian space travelers are likely to encounter, based on professional astronaut reports - Summarizes the types of biomedical assessment civilian space travelers will require in order to ready themselves for the dangers of space - Explores the types of preparation, training, and medical countermeasures needed to live and work in space

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Building a Space-Faring Civilization
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of contributors
• Preface
• 1 Space: relaunching Icarus
• 2 Civilian spaceflight: inspiration from the arts of the Italian Renaissance
• 3 Space—and the third great age of discovery
• 4 What do we think about when we think about settling space? An inclusive perspective
• 5 Galileo and space colonization
• 6 Vast is not infinite: challenges to governance and justice due to concentrated and finite space resources
• 7 The frontier of mining space resources and preparing human explorers and workers for those operations
• 8 What the first commercial space station means for humanity
• 9 The human experience of conducting engineering and construction operations in space
• 10 Humanity in the orbital age
• 11 Space architecture and the four futures of human space flight
• 12 Insights into spaceflight team performance gleaned from the exploration of challenging environments on Earth
• 13 Human Systems Integration: insights from exploring the sky and space—mitigation strategies for future space operations
• 14 Risk and systems knowledge in human spaceflight
• 15 Preparing for the unpredictable: facilitating multisystem resilience in human spaceflight
• 16 Twin studies, biobanks, and genome engineering to enable long-duration spaceflight
• 17 Using functionally characterized networks in the application of precision medicine in spaceflight
• 18 The Astronaut Digital Twin: accelerating discovery and countermeasure development in the optimization of human space exp...
• 19 Lessons learned—Part I: Medical screening, standards, and in-flight medical incidents, events, or risks
• 20 Lessons learned part II: in-flight medical equipment, capabilities, and countermeasures; and new medical paradigms for t...
• 21 Harnessing neuroplasticity’s features for civilian spaceflight through remediation and treatment
• 22 The critical imperatives of behavioral resilience in civilian space flight travelers
• 23 The human research program for civilian spaceflight
• 24 Biotechnology for a spacefaring civilization—necessary and challenging
• 25 Foundations of a Space Bill of Rights
• Index
• Back Cover