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SpaceX Polaris Dawn Mission: Rookies On Board, Revolutionary Suits, 'Space Vacuum'… 7 Things to Know About This Unique Challenge

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Top start for the Polaris Dawn mission, from SpaceX (owned by Elon Musk). This Friday morning, the rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral in the United States with 4 people on board.

Liftoff was eagerly awaited, as several incidents had delayed the start of the Polaris Dawn mission. The rocket loaded with the Crew Dragon capsule “Resilience” finally lifted off on the morning of Friday, September 6, at around 9 am French time, with a Falcon 9 launcher and a B1083 booster. On board are billionaire Jared Isaacman, engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, and ex-army pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet. The mission must last 5 days.

A delayed take off

Originally, the SpaceX capsule crew was scheduled to fly into space on August 27, but the delays kept coming. First due to a helium leak, then bad weather, the departure then had to be delayed again following the opening of an investigation by the US Federal Aviation Administration into the failure of the booster Progress.

The long-awaited takeoff took place at Cape Canaveral.
The long-awaited takeoff took place at Cape Canaveral.
AFP photo – Chandan Khanna

An altitude never reached since the Apollo missions of the 1970s

The city of space Toulouse is watching this historic exit closely. She specifically explains that “the crew must be placed in an elliptical orbit of 1,200 km apogee. Then, after a boost, the four mission members will be placed into a 1,400 km apogee orbit.” “This is the furthest distance for a crewed flight since the Apollo missions more than fifty years ago, and the furthest for a crewed mission in Earth orbit,” the site states.

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A journey into the “vacuum of space”

Once in orbit, the craft will release two crew members into the “vacuum of space.” This will be the first private extra-vehicular spacewalk in history. By this you mean that they will go directly into space, without going through a decompression chute, as is the case with the International Space Station (ISS). To do this, they will be connected to the capsule by an “umbilical cord” and will remain for about fifteen minutes.

A first trip before others much further

Elon Musk makes no secret of the fact that, with SpaceX, he has his eyes on Mars. Other Polaris missions are already planned. The latter should enable the first manned space flight aboard Starship, the SpaceX rocket that is still not operational.

Very significant radiation exposure

The altitude reached by the craft will expose the capsule to significant radiation when in the “Van Allen Center” “Surrounded by Death,” in the words of Jared Isaacman on the channel. CNBCthe crew must be very attentive to any incident. “Central nervous system disturbance, cataracts and other visual disturbances” as well as bone marrow disorders and an increased risk of cancer may occur, according to ESA engineer Piers Jiggens, quoted by Information about France. To avoid any problems and to ensure that the belt did not damage the hardware, the on-board computers were subjected to strong radiation during testing on Earth.

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Testing new combinations

This mission also serves to test the next-generation suits developed by SpaceX. Easier to manage, they are also equipped with headphones that allow the direct display of essential information such as temperature or oxygen level).

A new way to communicate, through the Starlink laser

Finally, among the innovative technologies tested during this mission, we can cite Internet communication through laser transmission, enabled by SpaceX's Starlink satellites.

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