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Polaris program

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This article is about the spaceflight program. For other projects and programs, see Polaris (disambiguation).
Polaris
Program overview
CountryUnited States
OrganizationSpaceX
StatusActive
Program history
Duration2022–present
Launch site(s)
Vehicle information
Crewed vehicle(s)
Launch vehicle(s)


The Polaris program is a planned private spaceflight program organized by entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. Building on his experience as commander of the Inspiration4 mission—the first all-civilian spaceflight—Isaacman contracted with SpaceX to create Polaris. The program involves two missions using SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft and will culminate in a planned crewed flight on Starship.

Polaris Dawn, the inaugural mission, aims to enter an orbit that will take the crew up to 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) away from Earth, the farthest humans have been from the planet NASA's Apollo program and attempt the first commercial spacewalk.

Flights

Polaris program planned flights
Mission Name Launch Date Launch Vehicle Spacecraft Orbit Crew
Polaris Dawn (Mission I) NET 26 August 2024[1] Falcon 9 Block 5 Crew Dragon (C207.3 Resilience) ♺ LEO, 1,400 km (870 mi) max apogee[2]
Mission II TBA Falcon 9 Block 5 Crew Dragon TBA TBA
Mission III TBA Starship Starship TBA

Polaris Dawn

Main article: Polaris Dawn

Scheduled to launch no earlier than 26 August 2024, during the Polaris Dawn mission the Crew Dragon capsule is expected to propel Isaacman and his crew of three—Scott Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon—to a highly elliptical orbit that will take them up to 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) away, the farthest anyone has been from Earth since NASA's Apollo program, so that they pass through parts of the Van Allen radiation belt to study the health effects of space radiation and spaceflight on the human body. Later in the mission, Isaacman and Gillis are expected to attempt the first commercial spacewalk.[1]

Mission II

Launching at a date and with a crew yet to be announced, the second mission in the Polaris Program will launch via a Falcon 9 Block 5 vehicle with a Crew Dragon capsule. The mission could potentially lift the Hubble Space Telescope into a higher orbit to prevent it from burning up in the atmosphere.[3][4]

Mission III

The third Polaris mission is set to be launched on Starship, SpaceX's next-generation launch system, "very far off in SpaceX’s future." Starship is in early flight testing as of April 2024 and is planned to carry crew only after Starship has made approximately 100 successful cargo flights.[5] This is to be the final flight of the Polaris Program.[6][7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Polaris Dawn". Polaris Program. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
  2. ^ Foust, Jeff (11 December 2023). "Polaris Dawn rescheduled for April". SpaceNews. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  3. ^ Chang, Kenneth (September 29, 2022). "NASA May Let Billionaire Astronaut and SpaceX Lift Hubble Telescope". Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 6, 2024. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  4. ^ NASA, SpaceX to Study Hubble Telescope Reboost Possibility, 22 December 2022, retrieved 8 May 2024.
  5. ^ Kurkowski, Seth (April 14, 2024). "Polaris Dawn is getting closer and closer to being launch ready". Space Explored. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  6. ^ Sheetz, Michael (14 February 2022). "Billionaire astronaut Jared Isaacman buys more private SpaceX flights, including one on Starship". CNBC. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
  7. ^ Davenport, Christian. "Jared Isaacman, who led the first all-private astronaut mission to orbit, has commissioned 3 more flights from SpaceX". Washington Post. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
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