SpaceX has just unveiled the spacesuits that will be used by astronauts on the Polaris Dawn mission. Two of them will be conducting an extravehicular activity with them.
SpaceXSpaceX recently unveiled its spacesuits designed for extravehicular activities (EVA). They were revealed over the weekend on the company’s website and social mediasocial media channels. These spacesuits are based on existing suits used by crews on the International Space Station and private astronauts traveling aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Improved Spacesuits
These new suits feature several enhancements, including redesigned more flexible jointsjoints for increased mobility, better thermal management, an upgraded helmet with an outer coating acting as a sun visor, as well as a camera and a heads-up display providing essential information about the suit’s status during spacewalks.
In detail, these suits are designed to resist flames and are equipped with waist and forearm zipperszippers for easy donning and doffing. For thermal management, these suits are made from a new textile material that offers both high mobility and effective thermal regulation. An intuitive dial on the umbilical cordumbilical cord allows control of a cooling system that provides extra oxygen during spacewalks. The boots are made with the same thermal material used on the Falcon interstage and Dragon tanks, providing them with thermal capacity suitable for the extreme temperatures of space as well as excellent flexibility. Regarding the heads-up display, activated only during spacewalks, it shows pressure, temperature, and humidity levels inside the suit, while monitoring the astronauts’ exposure durationduration to the vacuum of space.
These suits have undergone thorough testing, including a vacuum chamber test where the Crew Dragon cabin is testedThe Crew Dragon was depressurized with four “space suit simulators” inside, and the results were as expected.
**First Spacewalk for Two Private Astronauts**
These suits will be used for the first time during Polaris Dawn, the first mission of the private Polaris program funded by Jared Isaacman. Scheduled for this summer, Polaris Dawn will carry Jared and three other astronauts who will venture up to 1,400 kilometers from Earth, the highest distance for a crewed mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.
The Polaris Dawn mission marks a historic milestone in the history of manned flights.
During this mission, two astronauts, including Jared, will spacewalk for two hours, from the initial cabin depressurization to its re-pressurization after the spacewalk. It is important to note that the Crew Dragon does not have a decompression chamber, which is why the cabin needs to be depressurized to allow the spacewalk. The two astronauts will exit through a device called Skywalker at the front of the capsule. Other adaptations have been made to meet the requirements of cabin depressurization and re-pressurization, and they will be revealed later by SpaceX.
It is worth noting that SpaceX’s EVA suits will be worn continuously by the crew, including during the Crew Dragon’s launch and return to Earth. Unlike the bulkier EVA suits worn by astronauts aboard the ISS, SpaceX’s suits are designed for ergonomic adaptability in all situations.