Polaris Dawn brings new areas of research, medical care

The launch of Polaris Dawn from Kennedy Space Center includes the first civilian commercial spacewalk and other factors that will be firsts for space medicine research. And that’s why Emmanuel Urquieta, an internationally recognized space medicine expert who recently joined UCF’s College of Medicine, is especially excited about this latest mission.

The spacecraft is flying up to 870 miles above Earth—the highest orbit flown in the last half century. And at that altitude, the astronauts will be exposed to higher radiation than most astronauts who stay in low Earth orbit, such as those onboard the International Space Station.

After achieving the high orbit, Polaris Dawn will come down to a lower altitude for the spacewalk. Traditionally, when astronauts exit the spacecraft, there is an airlock that allows the interior of the vehicle to stay pressurized. But during this week’s walk, the entire vehicle will be depressurized so all four astronauts will be exposed to the vacuum of space and must rely on their spacesuits for life support.

For that reason, the astronauts are testing a new Space X-designed suit and a new procedure to get them physiologically ready for working in the vacuum of space.

Urquieta said different pressure between the vacuum of space and the spacesuit could cause decompression sickness, also known as “the bends”—which can happen to scuba divers if they surface too quickly. That condition occurs when pressure changes cause nitrogen in the bloodstream to form bubbles, resulting in joint pain, fatigue, difficulty breathing and, in the most serious and very rare cases, stroke-like symptoms.

Because of that, Polaris Dawn is carrying an ultrasound device that the crew will use to monitor possible bubble formation in their bodies. That medical data “will help us understand how the body changes during spaceflight, and a new understanding of bubble formation in spaceflight,” Urquieta says.

“Those findings could also help us provide better guidance to scuba divers—both recreational and professional—which is a big deal for a lot of people in Florida.”

He added that astronauts will provide biological samples—which are being processed by the UCF College of Medicine—to help researchers further determine the molecular impacts of space travel.

Radiation exposure is another area of interest to space medicine researchers. This flight’s higher altitude will put crew members farther from the Earth’s magnetic field’s protection, exposing them to higher doses of galactic cosmic radiation (GCR). So the flight will provide more research data on how radiation impacts space travelers.

Polaris Dawn’s crew is also testing Starlink laser-based communications during the mission, which could impact medical care in several ways. The system would provide more immediate contact between Earth and space travelers—a necessity in case of a medical emergency. And once in place, Starlink could enable internet and communications to the moon and further space destinations.

“This system could allow us to communicate medical information in real or close-to-real time, for applications both in space and on Earth,” Urquieta says.