Astronauts install the space station’s seventh new solar array
Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk completed a spacewalk that added another roll-out solar array to the International Space Station. The installation advances a power refurbishment supporting research and operations as older panels age. Preparations also began for the eighth and final array, whose installation remains scheduled for November 5.
Science··Morning
The seventh array is now installed
Anil Menon of NASA, the US space agency, and Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency installed and deployed a new roll-out solar array outside the International Space Station on October 29. Their spacewalk lasted seven hours and eleven minutes. The installation connected the seventh array in the station’s power refurbishment to the 2A electrical channel on its port-side structure. Menon carried the hardware while riding Canadarm2, the station’s robotic arm, and Kutryk assisted at the worksite. The completed operation moves the programme beyond the earlier clearance for the outing: another piece of power-generating hardware is now in place.[1], [2]
Stored energy unrolls a nineteen-metre panel
The array had reached the station earlier in the month aboard a Dragon cargo mission. During installation, the astronauts made electrical connections while the station passed through Earth’s shadow, reducing the danger of work on active power lines. A conventional motor was unnecessary for deployment. Energy stored in rolled carbon-composite booms extended the panel to 19 metres in about 12 minutes. It unfolded in front of part of an older solar wing on the P4 truss. The original wings have passed their 15-year design life and their output has degraded, prompting the addition of newer panels alongside the existing equipment.[1]
The final installation is planned for November
After completing the main task, the astronauts prepared hardware for the next outing, planned for November 5. That spacewalk is intended to add the eighth and final roll-out array to the 3B channel; it has not yet taken place. NASA expects the completed set to increase available power by up to thirty percent, supporting research, essential operations and preparations for a controlled deorbit. The deorbit is currently planned for 2030. The latest excursion was designated US spacewalk 100, a count covering US outings from the station without a docked shuttle. Across all station assembly, maintenance and upgrade outings, it was number 285. NASA gives the expected generating capacity after the full upgrade as approximately 215 kilowatts, compared with 160 kilowatts before the augmentation.[1], [2]
Related columns
For more information on this topic, you can read the related columns.
