Billionaire Jared Isaacman's Polaris Program and SpaceX have shared the latest details for their upcoming mission on the 26th, marking not only the first commercial spacewalk in human history but also breaking the record for the highest altitude spaceflight in orbit since the Apollo program. Isaacman, along with Polaris Dawn's pilot Kid Poteet and SpaceX's Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, will take to the skies later this month and spend as many as five days in orbit, during which they will run tests and conduct a spacewalk. During a media talk earlier today, Isaacman and his crew shared details for the Polaris Dawn mission, which significantly extends the engineering capabilities of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft.
SpaceX Makes Significant Upgrades To Crew Dragon Ahead Of Polaris Dawn Mission
Starting with the mission profile, Isaacman explained that after Polaris Dawn launches on the Falcon 9, it will be placed in a 1,200 kilometer orbit, which will later be raised to 1,400 kilometers and set a new record. According to him, "this is the farthest humans have traveled since the last time humans walked on the Moon more than fifty years ago."
He added that the record attempt will yield tremendous learning for human health, spacecraft endurance, and science, especially due to the radiation. The crew will stay at this altitude for "the shortest amount of time, um, that's necessary to gather the data we want" before defending to 1,200 kilometers for another record, according to Isaacman.
This record will be the first time a fully commercial crew undertakes a spacewalk. The primary aim of this spacewalk is to test SpaceX's first generation spacewalk suits and inform design for future use cases, including missions to Mars. This will arguably be the most dangerous portion of the flight, as two crew members will venture outside the ship while all four are exposed to the vacuum of space.
The entire spacewalk operation, from spacecraft venting to re pressurization, will last two hours, with actual out-of-vehicle time being "somewhere in the neighborhood of you know, fifteen to twenty minutes each while we're out there," outlined Isaacman.
According to SpaceX's Sarah Gillis, roughly an hour after the crew reaches orbit, they will start a pre breathe protocol to purge their bodies of nitrogen and avoid decompression sickness once the Crew Dragon is depressurized to vacuum. On the second day of the flight, the crew will put on their spacesuits and pressurize them before running a check to prepare themselves for the spacewalk the next day. On the third day, the final pre breathe with pure oxygen will occur, and then the spacewalk will start.
As part of modifying the Dragon to meet the mission requirements, there were upgrades to the life support system to increase the amount of oxygen that can be fed to the suit. The ship's environmental sensing suite was also upgraded to properly monitor the crew during their journey. SpaceX has also added a new nitrogen re pressurization system that will repressurize the Dragon following the spacewalk.
SpaceX has already depressurized and re pressurized Crew Dragon on Earth to test its systems and remove chemicals before the mission. Another upgrade is on the forward module. Called the 'Skywalker,' it will serve as a handhold and foothold for the crew during their space foray. Additional handhelds have been added on the hatch for interior operations, with a new motor on the forward hatch added as well.
During the mission, a Starlink laser link on the Dragon's trunk will communicate with satellites in orbit for the first laser based Starlink test on a crewed spaceflight. As per Isaacman, this test has the potential to "open up an entirely new communication pathway, uh, not just for Dragon" but also for others such as "Starships, or other satellites or telescopes out there" to "free up some of the burden on the, you know, existing TDRSS and ground station infrastructure."
After Polaris Dawn, the Polaris Program has planned two additional missions. Polaris II and Polaris III will add to what was learned from the upcoming mission and change the vehicle. This is because Polaris III is planned to be Starship's first human spaceflight. Polaris Dawn is slated to lift off on August 26th, with the final liftoff time to be decided on the launch day.
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