Polaris Dawn crew completes final series of EVA spacesuit testing, SpaceX suit includes new specifications
[Polaris Dawn crew in their SpaceX EVA Spacesuits (Polaris Dawn)]
The Polaris Dawn crew recently announced that they have completed a series of spacesuit acceptance tests in preparation for the Polaris Dawn mission. The tests were conducted on June 24-28 at NASA's Johnson Space Center. They used historic facilities that supported the Gemini and Apollo programs to ensure the closest replication of the vacuum of space. This marks a significant milestone for the success of their future mission as they tested the recently developed SpaceX EVA spacesuits, specifically made for this mission. Through these tests, they make sure that the spacesuits will work well during the mission, which represents a crucial step towards enabling the first privately conducted commercial spacewalk and for similar spacewalks to be possible in the future.
Before we start with the tests, let's talk about the new specifications that this EVA (Extravehicular Activity) suit has to the IVA (Intravehicular Activity) suits that SpaceX usually uses. The SpaceX EVA spacesuits are designed to withstand the harsh conditions of the vacuum of space outside the Dragon spacecraft and provide maximum safety and mobility for astronauts. The SpaceX IVA suits are worn for trips to the International Space Station and for missions that are just inside the proximity of the Dragon spacecraft. The EVA suit is also made to be tethered to the Dragon spacecraft instead of the untethered spacesuits that astronauts use when doing a spacewalk outside the ISS. New features in this EVA spacesuit include better mobility and joint designs within the spacesuit, advanced thermal regulation systems, a new 3D-printed visor within the helmet of the suit, which also includes a new Heads-Up Display (HUD), stronger suit materials, better reliability and redundancy, and more upgrades. These things make sure that the astronauts feel safe and comfortable while doing their space duties.
Now, let's move on with the main spacesuit testing. During the tests, the crew wore the spacesuits in a vacuum environment for the first time, a major replication of what they would face during their mission. This allowed them to familiarize how the spacesuit performs under such mission conditions. They also collected spacesuit and biometric data to assess overall system performance, understood the impacts of pressure changes on their body during such operations, and gained insights into the various thermal states they would expect throughout the spacewalk. The crew also simulated both elevated and reduced-activity periods to understand how their body temperatures would trend throughout the operations. These tests will be important for the crew to familiarize such operations and for them to simulate what they would feel during such flight and spacewalk operations.
This spacewalk will be historic as this will be the first-ever, privately conducted commercial spacewalk. It will also be the first time that four astronauts will be exposed to the vacuum of space at the same time, two of which will perform the actual spacewalk outside the Dragon spacecraft, while the other two will also monitor telemetry from the inside of the spacecraft, all while exposed to the vacuum of space. According to the mission plan that SpaceX and the Polaris Dawn team provided, Mission Commander Jared Isaacman and Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis will be the ones who will exit the Dragon spacecraft, while Mission Pilot Kidd Poteet and Mission Specialist & Medical Officer Anna Menon will be the ones who will manage spacesuit umbilicals and monitor telemetry from inside. The Polaris Dawn mission is currently scheduled to launch [no earlier than] July 31, 2024, pending SpaceX launch operations and FAA approval of the recent investigation of the Falcon 9 second-stage failure that occurred on July 11, 2024, which did not cause a threat to public safety.
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This is KYNNMASTER 123 for The Weekly Spaceman, see you in the next one! 😊
Resources and credits (and photos):
1. https://polarisprogram.com/polaris-dawn-crew-completes-final-series-of-eva-spacesuit-testing (Polaris Dawn)
2. https://www.spacex.com/humanspaceflight (SpaceX)
