International Space Station completes its eight-array power upgrade
Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk deployed the final roll-out solar array on 5 November, completing an upgrade begun in 2021. A low-current connection delayed deployment until an inspection in Earth’s shadow. The new hardware supplements the station’s aging original wings, with NASA putting the completed system’s generation capacity at approximately 215 kilowatts.
Science··Midday
The final array is installed and deployed
Anil Menon of NASA, the US space agency, and Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency completed the International Space Station’s last roll-out solar-array installation on 5 November. They mounted the eighth array on the station’s starboard 3B power channel and deployed it. Their outing lasted six hours and fifty-nine minutes. The completed operation follows the seventh array’s installation on 29 October, when the final unit still awaited its own spacewalk.[1], [2]
A connection check cleared the way
The package of approximately 340 kilograms reached its worksite using Canadarm2, the station’s robotic arm. Electrical checks then found about half the expected current. The astronauts waited for Earth’s shadow before inspecting the connectors, avoiding work while the sunlit array generated electricity. Current returned to the expected level. After two restraints were released, stored energy in the composite booms unfurled the panel in roughly ten minutes, without a separate deployment motor.[1]
New hardware supplements the original wings
The new arrays supplement original solar wings whose electricity output has declined with age. The installation sequence began in 2021. NASA gives capacity after the completed augmentation as approximately 215 kilowatts, compared with 160 kilowatts beforehand. Additional power supports the orbital laboratory’s continuing research and operations while the original wings remain part of its generating system.[1], [2]
