Agile Systems Engineering of an Astronaut Digital Twin to Optimize Human Space Exploration

The vigorous pace of innovation in the spaceflight engineering community has left a growing gap in the readiness of medical solutions to help humans thrive in space long-term. For example, how will the human body and psyche cope with the more than a year of weightlessness, radiation, isolation and confinement in the hostile, closed spaceship environment, and significant, increasing distance from Earth present on a trip to Mars and back to Earth? Further, how would the health of that crew fair long-term, years after the mission? To adequately answer these types of questions and promote astronaut adaptability, resiliency, and performance, the spaceflight medicine community is in need of readily deployable solutions to rapidly increase the pace of innovation.