{"id":11597,"date":"2021-06-25T23:13:49","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T15:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacewalking-astronauts-install-second-upgraded-solar-array\/"},"modified":"2021-06-25T23:13:49","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T15:13:49","slug":"spacewalking-astronauts-install-second-upgraded-solar-array","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacewalking-astronauts-install-second-upgraded-solar-array\/","title":{"rendered":"Spacewalking astronauts install second upgraded solar array"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Thomas Pesquet moves the new solar array to the P6 truss for installation. Image: NASA TV\/Spaceflight Now.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and NASA crewmate Shane Kimbrough floated back outside the International Space Station Friday and deployed a 60-foot-long roll-out solar array, the second of six new blankets being installed to upgrade the lab\u2019s power system and offset age-related degradation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like the deployment is complete,\u201d Pesquet radioed, watching the array unroll itself six hours after the spacewalk began. \u201cThe motion has stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n

After adjusting the tension on the new array, the astronauts collected their tools and made their way back to the space station\u2019s Quest airlock, wrapping up a six-hour 45-minute excursion.<\/p>\n

The first two ISS roll-out solar arrays, or iROSAs, were delivered to the lab complex aboard as SpaceX Dragon cargo ship on June 5. The astronauts originally planned to install them in a pair of spacewalks, but it took two outings, one on June 16 and another on June 20, to get the first new array installed.<\/p>\n

That panel was mounted on a fixture at the base of an existing solar wing on the far left, port 6 segment of the station\u2019s power truss. The P6 truss segment supports the lab\u2019s two oldest wings, feeding electricity into two of the lab\u2019s eight major power circuits: 2B and 4B.<\/p>\n

The first iROSA was tied into the P6\/2B array, tilted away from the original wing by 10 degrees. The second iROSA was attached in similar fashion to the P6\/4B wing.<\/p>\n

As the name suggests, the new panels are designed to deploy from spools, unrolling on their own when tightly wound carbon composite support struts on either side are released. Unlike the initial spacewalk, when the astronauts ran into an interference issue with the first iROSA, there were no problems Friday.<\/p>\n

NASA plans to install iROSA panels on six of the space station\u2019s eight original solar wings, all of which have suffered age-related degradation, including rocket plume deposits from visiting cargo and crew ships and impacts from micrometeoroids.<\/p>\n

Each new iROSA blanket will generate 20 kilowatts of power and, acting in concert with the original arrays, boost power output back to factory fresh levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the new arrays are installed on top, over in front of the existing solar arrays,\u201d said Dana Weigel, deputy manager of the space station program at the Johnson Space Center. \u201cThe exposed portion of the old arrays will still be generating power in parallel with the new arrays.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose new iROSA arrays have solar cells on them that are more efficient than our original cells, they have a higher energy density, and together in combination, they generate more power than what our original array, when it was new, did on its own.\u201d<\/p>\n

The six roll-out arrays will generate a combined 120 kilowatts of power. Combined with 95 kilowatts generated by the unshaded portions of the original arrays, the station\u2019s total solar power output will reach 215 kilowatts when the upgrade is complete.<\/p>\n

With Friday\u2019s spacewalk, astronauts and cosmonauts have now logged 1,519 hours and 41 minutes working outside the International Space Station. <\/p>\n

It was the ninth spacewalk so far this year, the fifth for Pesquet and the ninth for Kimbrough, whose total time working in the vacuum of space now stands at 59 hours and 28 minutes, moving him into a tie for sixth among the world\u2019s most experienced spacewalkers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thomas Pesquet moves the new solar array to the P6 truss for installation. Image: NASA TV\/Spaceflight Now. French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and NASA crewmate Shane Kimbrough floated back outside the International Space Station Friday and deployed a 60-foot-long roll-out solar array, the second of six new blankets being installed to upgrade the lab\u2019s power system […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11597"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}