The Healthcare of the Final Frontier—Comprehensive Epidemiological Approach to the Future of Human Space Exploration and Travel

Abstract

Today, the discussion about colonizing different planets has shifted from the “IF” mode to the “WHEN” mode, and the substantially large group of humans living for a long time in an isolated, hostile, and enclosed environment is about to become a reality. Thus, the space-related healthcare methodologies should shift as well from a small number of selected persons to much more extensive groups with much less health homogeneity. Moreover, the development of human colonies, first on the Moon and later on Mars, will be a game changer in all that we know and use to see in space travel and eventually in space health. Humans will leave Earth but will carry human society’s health patterns, adjusted to the environment. The foundation for space epidemiology modeling can be set today and should attract the attention of the epidemiological and space research communities.