Polaris Dawn: Another small step to Mars

News Excerpt:

SpaceX is launching its Polaris Dawn mission, which will take a Crew Dragon spacecraft to its highest orbit and feature the first-ever private spacewalk.

More about news:

  • A private venture aims to break a record for the highest orbit and do a spacewalk in the hazardous Van Allen Belts
  • If it succeeds, Polaris Dawn will be the first non-government mission to perform a spacewalk. But not only that — it’ll do that about 700 kilometers (435 miles) above Earth. The highest ever.
    • The International Space Station (ISS) orbits Earth at about 400 kilometers, where the radiation is less intense.
  • It will also orbit Earth through regions of a highly-charged belt of radiation.

About Polaris Dawn mission:

  • SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Polaris Dawn mission from Florida. 
  • Dragon and the Polaris Dawn crew will spend up to five days in orbit, during which they will work towards the following objectives:
    • Orbiting through portions of the Van Allen radiation belt, Polaris Dawn will conduct research with the aim of better understanding the effects of spaceflight and space radiation on human health.
    • At approximately 700 kilometers above the Earth, the crew will attempt the first-ever commercial extravehicular activity (EVA) with SpaceX-designed extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits, upgraded from the current intravehicular (IVA) suit
    • Building a base on the Moon and a city on Mars will require thousands of spacesuits; the development of this suit and the execution of the EVA will be important steps toward a scalable design for spacesuits on future long-duration missions.
    • The Polaris Dawn crew will be the first crew to test Starlink laser-based communications in space, providing valuable data for future space communications systems necessary for missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
    • While in orbit, the crew will conduct scientific research designed to advance both human health on Earth and our understanding of human health during future long-duration space flights.
  • The four astronauts on the Polaris Dawn mission will test new spacesuits, designed by Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, to see how well they protect them against the Van Allen Belt radiation.
  • Crew:
    • Jared Isaacman, Mission Commander
    • Scott Poteet, Mission Pilot
    • Sarah Gillis, Mission Specialist
    • Anna Menon, Mission Specialist and Medical Officer

Van Allen Belts: 

  • The Van Allen Belts consist of charged particles locked in place by Earth’s magnetosphere, which includes its magnetic field.
  • Earth’s magnetosphere traps high-energy radiation particles and protects our planet from solar storms and other threats to daily life from space.
  • While the outer belt holds high-energy particles from the sun, the inner belt is formed by cosmic rays that interact with Earth’s atmosphere.
  • They were discovered by American physicist James Van Allen in 1958.
  • The Van Allen Belts range from about 680 kilometers above Earth’s surface to what some estimates suggest is about 40,000 kilometers from the surface of the planet. And there’s a gap between the first and second belt.
  • The inner “proton” zone is centered at about 3,000 kilometers from Earth’s surface and the outer “electron” zone is centered about 15-20,000 kilometers from Earth’s surface.

Importance of Polaris Dawn mission:

  • Effects of spaceflight and space radiation:
    • The Polaris Dawn spacewalk will expose the crew to higher levels of radiation than on the ISS. They hope to collect data on the effects of that radiation as a key scientific experiment.
    • In 2025, NASA plans to send astronauts beyond the Van Allen Belts to land on the south pole of the moon, and eventually on to Mars. Any data provided by Polaris Dawn will feed into those future missions.
  • Planned health research on Polaris Dawn:
    • Polaris intends to use data from the mission to create research Biobanks to study the effects of space travel on human biology.
    • It will investigate the effects of space travel on eyesight and brain structure — a major health risk in space, known as Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome (SANS).
    • The team also hopes to contribute to studies into decompression sickness (DCS), another health risk during spaceflight. DCS occurs when nitrogen gas bubbles (or gas emboli) damage human tissue.
  • First test of laser communications in space:
    • The crew will test laser communications provided by SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network. 
    • Starlink is a large satellite constellation, eventually consisting of about 12,000 satellites for communication on Earth and in space. It was used early in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Isaacman has committed to three missions in collaboration with SpaceX. The second mission will expand the boundaries of future human spaceflight missions, in-space communications, and scientific research. And the third mission will be the first crewed test of SpaceX’s reusable Starship spacecraft.

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