Aerospace company SpaceX has unveiled EVA (Extravehicular Activity) spacesuits, which will be used for the first ever spacewalk aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of the Polaris programme. SpaceX’s spacewalk suits are based on spacesuits already used on the company’s manned missions.
SpaceX engineers have made many changes to the design of existing spacesuits of the company to make them suitable for use outside the spacecraft. Among other things, the design of the spacesuit’s moving parts has been improved, and thermoregulation has been improved. The upgraded helmet has a new coating to better protect astronauts’ eyes from sunlight. A projection display is also integrated into the helmet, which will display information about the status of the spacesuit during the spacewalk.
The EVA spacesuits will first be used on the Polaris Dawn mission frames, part of the Polaris programme sponsored by billionaire Jared Isaacman. He and three other crew members will embark on a tourist flight into space, where they are scheduled to perform a weightlessness exit from the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The SpaceX ship does not have an airlock, so all crew members will have to use new spacesuits because the ship will depressurise during the spacewalk.
During the Polaris Dawn mission, two of the four crew members will reportedly go outside the Crew Dragon spacecraft. This will involve the use of a Skywalker device, which is located at the forward hatch and has arm restraints. During this task, data will be collected on the effectiveness of EVA spacesuits and how comfortable they are to work in them in open space.
SpaceX’s new spacesuits have already undergone extensive testing in laboratory conditions, including a test in which a Crew Dragon capsule was placed in a vacuum chamber and then depressurised. SpaceX Vice President Stu Keech said during the presentation that all tests went as expected.
SpaceX also noted that these spacesuits will be important steps toward a scalable spacesuit design for future long-duration missions, including building a base on the moon and a city on Mars. Those missions will require millions of spacesuits, the company said.
SpaceX needed more than just new spacesuits for its spacewalks. The Crew Dragon spacecraft itself had to be seriously modernised. For example, the company’s engineers integrated into it a depressurisation system, which will allow to restore the pressure inside the capsule after the spacewalk is completed.
As for the upcoming Polaris Dawn mission, the timing of its realisation was hindered by the need to create new spacesuits. Now that this work has been completed, SpaceX plans to send a crew into space in early summer. For this purpose will be involved carrier rocket Falcon 9, which will put the ship Crew Dragon into an elliptical orbit vystoy from 190 to 1200 km. After that, the ship will increase the apogee point to 1400 km and will remain in this orbit for some time, collecting data on increased radiation. Then the orbit altitude will be reduced to 700 kilometres, where the spacewalk is planned. In addition to scientific experiments, the crew members will test the reliability of communication with Earth via Space Starlink satellites.
