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ESA/NASA complete ISS spacewalk to install first new solar array
Two astronauts went outside the International Space Station (ISS) to complete installation of the first of six new Boeing-built solar arrays — part of a program to increase the station's electrical power generation capacity as its science and research demands increase and future expansion plans continue.
The Extravehicular Activity (EVA) – officially known as US EVA-75 – began at 11:42 UTC / 07:42 EDT when Thomas Pesquet from the European Space Agency (ESA) and Shane Kimbrough from NASA took their spacesuits to battery power before exiting the Quest Airlock to begin their work.
The eight original Solar Array Wings (SAWs) on the ISS, which each produce around 30 kilowatts (kW) of power for a total of about 250kW are beginning to show signs of degradation, with the oldest array now having been in space since 2000 when the P6 truss and associated arrays was delivered to the station by Shuttle Endeavour's STS-97 crew.
With over 20 years of use, and normal degradation of solar arrays, the eight SAWs now only produce around 160kW of power – against a backdrop of rising power demands from the station's increasing users.
The new arrays will bring it back up to 215 kW.
Future expansion plans? I thought it was still at risk of being deorbited after 2030.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday June 21 2021, @04:35PM (3 children)
Starlink doesn't get Musk to Mars either. But the profit from it does.
Now if a space station could generate billions of dollars in annual profits, like Starlink should eventually do, Musk might view it as a way to accelerate or fund his Mars ambitions.
The thing about landline phones is that they never get lost. No air tag necessary.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Monday June 21 2021, @06:50PM (2 children)
Space station can be pretty cheap - in the early days they planned to make SkyLab out of an old fuel tank (launch with the fuel, the empty can becomes the station). So it costs approx the same as a single non-reusable launch.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday June 21 2021, @07:05PM (1 child)
It seems a usable space station is much more than an empty can that once held fuel. The fuel typically would be in pressure vessels within the can, and not easily removed on orbit, making the can not-empty even if the fuel/ox vessels are empty.
The thing about landline phones is that they never get lost. No air tag necessary.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Tuesday June 22 2021, @09:00AM
This was the plan (but never implemented)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab#Wet_workshop [wikipedia.org]