Polaris Program: Advancements in Space Exploration and Technology

Polaris Store represents a vital step towards making life multiplanetary through innovative mission designs and technology advancements.

### The Significance of the Polaris Program and Its Impact on Space Exploration
* 🚀 The Polaris Store mission represents a **crucial step towards making life multiplanetary**, showcasing a collaborative effort to **advance space exploration**.
* 🔬 The mission successfully tested a new spacesuit and StarLink technology, which provided an **effective alternative communication pathway to mission control**, marking **significant progress from traditional systems**.
* 📊 Data collected from numerous scientific experiments will now be analyzed by researchers to draw **valuable insights** that could inform **future missions**.
* 🛠 The Polaris program involves a unique development initiative where participants were **deeply engaged in building new technology**, including a **new suit for future lunar and Martian exploration**.
* 🌌 SpaceX's overarching goal is to **accelerate the timeline for human colonization of other planets**, utilizing the Dragon spacecraft as a platform until the Starship becomes operational.
* 📅 The immediate focus for the remainder of the year will be on **data reviews and planning for the next Polaris mission**, expected to **begin design work early next year**.
* 🌟 SpaceX is described as an extraordinary organization, driven by a mission to **make life multiplanetary**, with a passionate workforce dedicated to achieving this **ambitious goal**.
* 💡 While SpaceX is not solving all global challenges, its innovative approach **inspires a new generation of engineers and scientists**, fostering a spirit of **collaboration and advancement in space technology**.

Jared, now that you have had time to process and think, what is the conclusion reached about the significance of Polaris Store? What were the results of the mission and the experiment that you conducted? Oh, well, first on one. Sorry, I can't be there in person. I really would have liked to. Second, to be honest, I can't say that I've had a lot of time to really think and reflect since coming back. It's been just kind of a whirlwind. We've had a lot of, you know, data reviews, debriefs, science research. We've been kind of bouncing around a bunch, and it's still ongoing for some time. So. But I will just say, I think Polaris time was just it was always meant to just be a small step in the right direction. You know, a huge team effort to move the ball forward as part of the, you know,

broader space vision of making life multiplanetary. So we've gotten a little farther into space than we've been in a long time. We tested out a new suit, which is just one small step towards building a more scalable suit that's capable of walking on the moon or Mars someday. You know, we tested out StarLink, which worked incredibly well as an alternative pathway to mission control, which is also a step in the right direction off of legacy infrastructure. And then a lot of science and research experiments which collected tons of data points on. But, you know, really it's up to the researchers, the principal investigators to kind of analyze that data and reach their conclusions. But we're happy to support it. I know the milestones and mission goals with very different inspiration for and I understand that was where you more deeply integrated within the SpaceX or

in how you worked with them in preparation relative to the inspiration for your mission? Yeah, for sure. I mean, the kind of phases you go through are all relatively the same. You know, there is kind of, you know, a mission design period where, you know, what's in the realm of possible, you know, and then you kind of move into training for it. The difference with Polaris, Don, is it's a development program as part of a broader development initiative with the players program. So we actually had to build things. You had to build a new suit. So, you know, we were there working alongside the engineers from the first version of the space of the EVA spacesuit to what ultimately became, you know, qualification and testing of the ultimate flight articles that we took to the vacuum chamber that we took into orbit. So that's very different. You know, we were there, as you know, software is being developed to meet

mission objectives or, you know, the ecosystem, the extra nitrogen tanks and oxygen tanks that we had, you know, to support from pressurizing daylight. Yeah, we were much more deeply involved because the mission required us to be because we were trying to do things that hadn't been done in a. Oh, yeah. The stakes were so high. Jared, you are not a Space X employee. No, I'm. I'm not a space X employee. But I do know. How deeply are you involved in now? The Starship program? Fine. Not very involved. I mean, we're kept very well informed. I mean, we're ultimately going to fly it. So, you know, Polaris will be the first crew that will take, you know, starship to orbit. So. So we we absolutely will are kind of kept informed and there will be a time where we will get, I think, very embedded in the development testing when

it actually comes to when they're actually working on things that are, you know, most relevant for a human crew. You know, right now they want to get to orbit. They want to come back and catch their, you know, their booster and eventually their starship, because that's how you achieve rapid reusability, which is so important if you're going to take Starship to the moon or Mars. It needs to get fully topped off and refueled in Earth orbit. So there are just some immediate priorities that come before and like my attention would would go towards Polaris to where we build off of Polaris one and and we'll be, you know, kind of repeating the mission design, development and training phases again. All right. What is the timeline from here for the rest of the Polaris program? I think the balance of of this year is still very much like the data review and

debriefs. You know, what did we get right? What could we have done better? And again, what is now in the realm of possible for the next mission because you're going to build off of this one. I think, you know, Space X was very quick to say on the, you know, on the X spaces after we came back that, you know, continuing to improve upon the suit, running at higher pressure to minimize pre-breathe requirements, a portable life support system. I think those are all reasonably easy to predict. You know, but we got to learn, you know, we've got to like really understand what we gathered out of this mission first. And I think that's the balance of this year. And then I expect probably early next year, we're going to start designing the next Polaris mission to again, just kind of move the ball forward. And I guess it would be an appropriate time to kind of ask what the broader

mission statement is for Polaris, the program at large. Gerard. We're really just trying to kind of accelerate, you know, SpaceX's timeline towards, you know, making life multi-planetary. Starship is the obvious vehicle to do that. But we don't have Starship today. We have Dragon. So, and Dragon was initially developed to go from point A to B, from here to the space station and back, and do it very well. And now we are taking that vehicle because it's here and there's not a lot of spaceship choices to work with. Like, it is the best one to use as a development platform to ultimately, you know, better prepare humankind when Starship comes online. So, to give you examples, like we flew Starship life support sensors on our Dragon mission, like, you know, the various sensors that detect, you know, oxygen levels, CO2 levels, you know, pressure levels.

You know, these are bank of sensors that are part of the ecosystem. We're all starship ones and not dragon ones, you know. So, that's kind of the idea, is to, you know, bridge this massive gap from what we have today, Dragon, which is an awesome spaceship, but to Starship, which is going to be, you know, a revolutionary step forward. Like, it is a total game changer. And when it comes online, you know, we're going to very quickly be able to return to the moon and go to Mars. If you're going to need suits, you're going to need new communication systems. There's a lot of things we're going to have to figure out because they're not planning to build, you know, three or four of them. They have two factories to build, potentially hundreds of them, right? And that's the aim of Polaris, to help.

And if an approximation, please. When will you fly, Starship? I, you know, I leave that to the experts at Space and Ellen to kind of determine the timeline on it, or we'll fly it as soon as it's ready. But right now, we there's a lot we can do with Dragon, and that's why the first two Polaris missions were designed for Dragon. Jared What we want to do with this is help our Bloomberg Technology audience around the world understand what is really happening inside of space. X Explaining what it's like working with the engineers and how important you feel. This company is not just to an industry, but I suppose, as you put it, humankind's future outside of Earth's atmosphere. All right. What an awesome question. Right. Look, SpaceX X is an extraordinary organization. You know, since I've been 16, since I was 16 years old, I've been in the in business and have worked with literally

like thousands of companies, you know, across a lot of verticals, including Defense, Aerospace. I was the CEO of a defense aerospace company that started for, you know, almost 12 years. And I've never seen an organization like Space X. You know, there's a lot of companies that have a mission and vision statement on their website that no one cares about. I can tell you there's 14,000 people who show up for work every day at Space X, and they believe that there is no greater impact they can make in the world than trying to make life multiplanetary because the world is a more interesting place when you can journey among the stars. I mean, they believe it. There's some of the smartest people in the world, and they're very passionate about getting there as quickly as they can. Every quest, every development initiative, every dollar that spent, you know, has the question posed to it of

will this help us get to Mars? And that's applied to all the objectives that, you know, we assembled part of the Polaris program. It's very cool to watch people work so quickly towards such an outrageous goal. And the vast majority of it is privately funded. I mean, you know, think about it. This is like a Manhattan Project-level endeavor or take the space race of the 1960s, but without the four and a half percent of GDP, U.S. GDP being, you know, funded, you know, into an asset. It's largely a commercial private endeavor for the benefit of everyone. All that aside, I do want to say that, like, SpaceX isn't solving all of the world's problems clearly. And even going to Mars, like, they may develop the optimal vehicle to take us there and back. But there are still, you know, like who knows how many potential challenges that will exist on that journey.

They're making it a self-sustaining city and coming back. So I think so cool about SpaceX. It is they inspire so many other engineers, you know, scientists, researchers who start up different companies that follow SpaceX philosophies like it. It will take so many SpaceX-like companies to make this to make the world a much better place. And they're just a great beacon that that is like inspiring many others to do the same.

Polaris' Isaacman: SpaceX Is a "Beacon" for the Industry

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The Polaris mission was a small step towards the broader goal of making life multiplanetary, with a focus on testing a new spacesuit and StarLink for mission control.

The mission involved a team effort to collect data for science and research experiments, with the analysis left to the principal investigators.

The Polaris program also involved building and testing the first version of the EVA spacesuit, marking a significant development in the overall space initiative.

Involvement in the Starship Program and Polaris Mission Timeline

The speaker is not a SpaceX employee but is kept well informed about the Starship program, as Polaris will be the first crew to take it to orbit.

The immediate priorities for SpaceX include achieving rapid reusability and refueling the Starship in Earth orbit.

The rest of the year will focus on data review and debriefs from the first mission, with the next Polaris mission's design expected to start early next year.

Polaris aims to accelerate SpaceX's timeline for making life multi-planetary, using Dragon as a development platform until Starship is operational.

The program is bridging the gap between Dragon and Starship by integrating life support sensors and other critical systems.

Polaris' ultimate goal is to prepare for a rapid return to the moon and eventual missions to Mars.

SpaceX's timeline for flying the Starship is uncertain, as it will launch when ready, with the first two Polaris missions using Dragon.

The company, with 14,000 dedicated employees, aims to make life multiplanetary and believes in the importance of their work for humankind's future.

The passionate and talented team at SpaceX is focused on making progress towards their ambitious goals as quickly as possible.

SpaceX's Polaris program is working quickly towards the goal of reaching Mars, with the majority of funding coming from private sources.

The company's efforts are compared to the Manhattan Project and the 1960s space race, but with a commercial focus.

While SpaceX is not solving all the world's problems, its work is inspiring other engineers and researchers to start similar companies, potentially creating a ripple effect for positive change.