What is Polaris Dawn Mission?
After several months of delay, the Polaris Dawn mission was launched on September 10. Its purpose was to complete a private commercial spacewalk in space. Four people participated in the mission. Its funding and command is with Jared Isaacman. He is a billionaire businessman. Lieutenant Colonel Scott Poteet played the role of pilot. Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, who are operations engineers at SpaceX, participated as mission specialists.
EVA vs SEVA
EVA i.e. Extravehicular Activity means that an astronaut left his spacecraft in space. He came out of it completely and returned to the spacecraft after completing his work. During this, he walks in space outside the spacecraft. During EVA, works like maintenance of satellite are usually completed.
In comparison, in ‘Stand-up Extravehicular Activity’ i.e. SEVA, the astronaut does not completely come out of the spacecraft. Some part of his body remains attached to the spacecraft. This is what happened in the Polaris Dawn mission. Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis did not completely leave the spacecraft.
Space.com’s report also states that during the private commercial spacewalk, both the astronauts did not walk outside the spacecraft. They were in a stand-up position. Interestingly, this was the 20th Stand-Up Extravehicular Activity (SEVA) in the history of space. The difference between EVA and SEVA was first seen in 1966, when the Gemini spacecraft reached space. Then NASA astronaut Michael Collins took his body out of the spacecraft and took some pictures.
SEVA was repeated once again on Thursday. During this time Isaacman and Gillis never completely left the Dragon capsule. They kept at least some part of their body inside at all times. SEVA was also done before this mission in the year 2008. Two Chinese astronauts came out of the spacecraft slightly to wave their country’s national flag. Anyway, SEVA of Polaris Dawn mission lasted about 1 hour 46 minutes.
Gadgets 360 for the latest tech news, smartphone reviews and exclusive offers on popular mobiles Android Download the app and let us know Google News Follow on.