Paying to walk in space
A bucket-list private mission
(Credit: C-bass Productions)
Get ready to hear a lot about the “first private spacewalk” and the “highest orbit in space” for humans since the Apollo days. This space mission is called Polaris Dawn. There have been proclamations about science experiments, innovation and development of space systems, and charitable contributions for this flight. All of that is true. But, this mission is really about a billionaire adventurer.
Jared Isaacmen started an internet payment processing company in his parent’s garage. He’s now the CEO of Shift4, a company that has made him rich. He seems like a fine man. He likes world records, too.
As his biography states, “He is an accomplished pilot & astronaut with over 7,000 flight hours of aviation experience.” In fact, he owns his own air force and, “holds several world records, including two speed-around-the-world flights in 2008 and 2009.” Isaacman can afford to pay for his adventures and he has.
WRAPPED IN SCIENCE & PHILANTHROPY
Having flown fighter jets for years, he decided he wanted to go to space. He paid for a SpaceX mission called Inspiration4. That space flight was wrapped in a blanket of giving. Isaacson says he raised $240 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. But he got to go to space with three others for several days.
One can imagine the meeting at SpaceX after Inspiration4. Isaacman potentially says, “Next time I want to do a spacewalk and I want to set a world record.” SpaceX says sure, “sounds good to us.” Isaacman created his Polaris Program, a small space company to pursue his dreams.
Isaacman is doing what NASA is doing for SpaceX. He is helping fund development of new systems for the space company. Neither Isaacman, nor SpaceX, will say how much the billionaire is paying for this flight. It has been two years in the making because SpaceX had to develop a lot of equipment.
COMPANY CREW
First, he needed a crew. Issacman asked his buddy from his private air force to come along. Scott “Kidd” Poteet is a former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot. Isaacman also tapped two SpaceX employees. Sarah Gillis has trained crews for the SpaceX Dragon and Anna Menon is a space operations engineer who is married to a NASA astronaut.
Isaacson’s intention to walk in space and reach a very high orbit created some issues for SpaceX. The Dragon is just a capsule. There is not enough room for an airlock to allow some to stay in a pressurized cabin while others venture into the vacuum of space. So the company decided to open the hatch- everyone will be exposed to space.
NECESSARY CHANGES
The first problem is the hatch. It has to be robust and able to be opened and closed mechanically or manually. Then there are the suits. What astronauts wear for landing and take off are simple pressure suits. Venturing out of the capsule requires dealing with heat and cold.
SpaceX developed an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) suit for this mission. It’s difficult to move one’s elbows and shoulders in a pressure suit, so SpaceX developed special joints for this suit. These are not like the suits used outside of the space station, or on the Moon, which are fully self-contained. These suits will use an umbilical which that supply oxygen, communications, and a tether. Think of the Mercury mission in the 1960s.
Isaacman knows this is the most dangerous part of his mission. “If you're going to vent the vehicle down to vacuum and open the hatch, you are taking on a lot of risk at that point. I think it just goes into the preparations for that risk that I believe have been well mitigated.”
The high altitude orbit will expose the capsule and the astronauts to higher levels of radiation. The crew will go up to this high orbit, set a record, and then return to a much lower orbit for the spacewalk.
Polaris Dawn flight profile. (Credit: SpaceX)
While this may be a bucket-list item for Jared Isaacman, he also seems committed to doing his part to push space technology forward. At a media briefing he spoke eloquently on the final frontier.
PASSION FOR SPACE
“If we are to unlock this last great frontier, and people are going to venture out in space… we have no idea what it could do to …change the trajectory of humankind.”
However much Isaacman is paying for this flight, SpaceX will learn a lot. The company has developed a laser communication system to beam comms to its Starlink satellites. Former NASA executive and current VP at SpaceX William Gerstenmaier says they will learn how their avionic equipment deals with the increased radiation of high orbit.
Gerst, as he’s known, also says the suits will tell them a lot about design for future iterations. “We're really starting to push frontiers with the private sector and learning new things that we would not be able to learn by staying in the risk-free environment of here on earth. It's time to go out, it's time to explore. It's time to do these big things and move forward.”
FUNDING SPACEX DEVELOPMENT
That is an attitude shared by the billionaire adventurer and commander of this mission. Issacman says private space efforts have a lot to contribute. “Governments aren't always the greatest capital allocators. We can absolutely cheer them on, and they're great efforts. But, it's great to cheer on the private sector, too, and investments that they can make in order to unlock this last frontier.”
While Isaacman wanted to experience spaceflight, he says his first mission inspired him when he watched the Moon rise behind the Earth and said to himself, “we just gotta keep this thing going.”
“You know, I wasn't alive when humans walked on the moon. I'd certainly like my kids to see humans walking on the moon and Mars and venturing out and exploring our solar system. Because we, as we all know, if we're here, like we barely dipped, dipped our toe in the ocean, barely, I mean, we haven't even scratched the surface yet.”
We can all wish Isaacman and his crew members well and hope SpaceX learns a lot that helps the company, and the space community, in the future. St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital will likely see more donations. It’s called Polaris Dawn. But, it is Isaacman’s adventure and box to be checked on his bucket-list.
Thanks Mike. Reality vs. marketing.
What a perfect analogy! As an "ex" scuba diver (too old now days) I can just imagine the view from space, without the limitations when scuba diving caused by the water, light, seaweed.......... whatever. Sounds like a divers ultimate dive.