Should I take my appendix with me if I'm going to Mars?

This novel project sought to challenge the propositions that:

The appendix is ‘vestigial’ and has no utility;
The expeditioner is “better off without an appendix”;
There are no ethical issues around compulsory surgical removal of a perfectly healthy organ; and
No harm will come to the expeditioner as a result of being without an appendix.

The project was divided into six key sections, and looked at the overall question of whether the human appendix is “friend or foe” in the expeditionary setting (“benivolem aut insidiator?”).

Note: in this context, the ‘expeditionary setting’ includes remote, austere and extreme environments, and human spaceflight missions.

Six key sections:

Mission planning, policies and procedures;
Prevention and Non-Surgical Prophylaxis;
Appendiceal Function and Immune System Factors;
Diagnosis of Appendicitis and Operative vs Non-Operative Management;
Prophylactic Surgery: Risks and Consequences [Surgical Complications]; and
Prophylactic Surgery: Risks and Consequences [Long-term health outcomes].