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Polaris Dawn astronauts Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis have successfully exited the confines of their Crew Dragon vehicle to perform the first ever commercial spacewalk on September 12. SpaceX and the Polaris crew started preparing for the event at 6:01AM Eastern time, checking that all their gear was in order and putting on the SpaceX extravehicular activity (EVA) suits that all four of them have to wear, because opening the Dragon's hatch will expose them to outer space. Pure oxygen was pumped into the suits to check for leaks before all the air was let out of the vehicle and before Isaacman opened the hatch. First view of Dragon's forward hatch open pic.twitter.com/2KpzA2ILfq SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 12, 2024 A few minutes before 7AM Eastern, Isaacman went through the hatch and exited the vehicle, with the Dragon's camera capturing his silhouette against our planet as the backdrop. He then performed a series of mobility exercises as planned the whole point of the spacewalk was to test SpaceX's new EVA suits before going back into the capsule. "Back at home, we all have a lot of work to do," he said as he emerged from the vehicle. "But from here, it looks like a perfect world." Commander @rookisaacman conducting suit mobility tests while Dragon flies between Australia and Antarctica pic.twitter.com/yj3vFOTNzQ SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 12, 2024 After he went back to his seat, SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis geared up for her turn. She had to deal with the hatch seal bulging out a bit, but she was ultimately able to climb out of the hatch and do a series of mobility exercises like Isaacman did. Once she was done, the team closed the hatch and started repressurizing Dragon to equalize the atmosphere inside before checking the cabin for any leaks. By 7:55AM, Dragon's repressurization was complete, marking the completion of today's spacewalk. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/polaris-dawn-astronauts-successfully-perform-the-first-commercial-spacewalk-120048616.html?src=rss
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The Nintendo Switch is now over seven years old and due for a refresh, even if the storied console maker isnt chasing technical specs, like its rival. Nintendo Switch 2 rumors (again, Id wager real money it wont be called that) have been bouncing around for years, even. Sometimes they teased DLSS, NVIDIAs deep learning supersampling upscaling tech to add polish and higher resolution to existing Switch games. Other times, rumors just ended up being the OLED Switch largely the same console as the original. Will this be something like the Wii? Another left turn, console wise? Or something evolutionary, like the Wii U or GameBoy Color. Its unlikely the company will ditch the hybrid form-factor as it effectively married home and portable consoles together and is probably a huge reason for the Switchs success. Were expecting it to be backwards compatible with the Switchs game library, while Nintendos account system management should make it smoother to swap between console generations than in the past. Crucially, when will it launch? While its mostly speculation, Nintendos next console could arrive March 2025, but couch that with the necessary levels of skepticism. Weve pulled together all the reports, leaks and rumors right here. Mat Smith The biggest stories you might have missed Ultimate Ears Everboom review Google searches now link to the Internet Archive The Apple Watch Series 10 deserves more than 18-hour battery life Adobe previews AI video tools that arrive later this year Youll be able to create AI clips from text, still images and existing video. Adobes Firefly AI video generation tools will arrive in beta later this year. Like many things related to AI, the examples are equal parts mesmerizing and terrifying as the company slowly integrates tools built to automate much of the creative work done by folks who buy its software. The company, of course, reiterates that these tools are supplementary. Of course! Continue reading. The audio earrings Kamala Harris didnt wear during the debate barely even exist Sometimes, its not the tech. Associated Press With even Fox News and senior Republican figures admitting Vice President Kamala Harris won Tuesday nights presidential debate, some supporters of former president Trump are chasing the same old conspiracy theories: an earpiece used during debates. A tale as old as 2012, the same accusations were cast at President Joe Biden in 2020, at Hillary Clinton in 2016 and at Barack Obama in 2012. However, internet sleuths finds boiled down to a Kickstarter startup called Nova and earring-styled earpieces that never quite made it beyond vaporware. We detangle the nonsense. Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-the-700-ps5-pro-111538227.html?src=rss
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Two of Polaris Dawn's four astronauts could make history today by performing the first ever commercial spacewalk at around 700 kilometers (435 miles) above our planet. Jared Isaacman, the mission leader and funder, and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis will leave the confines and safety of the Crew Dragon capsule for 15 and 20 minutes each. The other two crew members, Scott Poteet and Anna Menon, will stay inside the vehicle to monitor the spacewalkers' status and make sure everything's in order. SpaceX will stream the event live on its website and on X starting at 4:50AM Eastern time. In case the spacewalk has to be called off, the astronauts will have another opportunity on September 13 at the same time. As The New York Times explains, the Crew Dragon has no airlock like the International Space Station does, so the astronauts will have to let the all the air out of the vehicle before opening one of its hatches. All four will have to wear the company's extravehicular activity (EVA) suits, which are upgraded and tougher versions of its suits for intravehicular activity (IVA). SpaceX's EVAs come with new joints that can flex and rotate, thereby providing greater mobility. Their helmets are equipped with a heads-up display (HUD) and camera, and the spacesuits as a whole have a Faraday layer that can protect them from electric fields. The Polaris Dawn crew's spacewalk will put the suit to the test as they subject it to the harsh environment of outer space while conducting mobility tests. "The development of this suit and the execution of the spacewalk will be important steps toward a scalable design for spacesuits on future long-duration missions as life becomes multiplanetary," the Polaris Dawn's website reads. The whole operation, from the beginning until the astronauts close the hatch to repressurize Crew Dragon, will last for two hours. The civilian mission launched in the early hours of September 10 after multiple delays. In addition to accomplishing the first commercial spacewalk, the mission has other objectives, including sending a crew farther than any Dragon mission before and farther than anybody has been since the Apollo program, even reaching parts of the Van Allen radiation belt. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/how-to-watch-polaris-dawn-astronauts-attempt-the-first-commercial-spacewalk-074548007.html?src=rss
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