The Martian Pharmacy

Between January 8, 1994 and March 22, 1995, cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov spent 437 days in space – clinching a world record for the longest off-world mission by a single human (a record that remains to this day) and setting a precedent for the future of record breaking space farers. With talk of space tourism gathering interest – and likelihood – there will come a time when space exploration moves away from the realms of scientific research and into an environment in which people can live and work for extended periods of time.

But where there are people, there will be illnesses that require treatments. How do we get medicines into space and, once there, how do we store and maintain them until they’re required?

Lyophilization and the Future of Drug Transport, Storage, and Administration in Space