Deciphering Medical Risk with High-Performance Computing

As NASA develops plans for increasingly ambitious human missions, including a return to the Moon and, eventually, exploration of Mars, more advanced medical risk assessment is necessary in order to keep astronauts healthy. Many aspects of spaceflight can contribute to risk, including altered gravity (which effects blood distribution and vascular biology, muscles, and bones), confinement, changes in sleep patterns, and challenges related to pharmaceutical administration and nutrition. Perhaps the one aspect of the space environment that poses the greatest risk is space radiation. Space radiation consists of energetic protons and helium ions from the sun, as well as galactic cosmic rays — high energy protons and energetic heavy ions — from outside our solar system.