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During a spacewalk on Thursday, the International Space Station will receive its second boost of solar power in a month. The event comes after unwanted alien interference with plans to take a spacewalk on Wednesday.
NASA had to implement a 24-hour delay so the space station could fire its thrusters to clear the debris, which has been identified as part of Old Russian missile. near collisions in space GossipBecause low Earth orbit – the region in which the International Space Station orbits – is increasingly crowded with satellites and space debris.
“The crew is not in immediate danger,” NASA noted in a blog post Wednesday.
The spacewalk began around 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday and is expected to last about seven hours. Live coverage began at 7:00 a.m. ET on NASA Website.
NASA astronauts Josh Casada and Frank Rubio install a solar array outside the floating laboratory. Rubio serves as Extravehicular Crewman 1 and wears a red striped suit, while Cassada wears an unmarked white suit as Extravehicular Crewman 2.
The solar panel should start working around 2pm. ET, NASA ISS Program Director Joel Montalbano told reporters Thursday morning.
Thursday’s spacewalk is one of several activities designed to install solar panels, called iROSA, to boost the space station’s electrical power.
The first two deployment solar panels will be installed outside the station in June 2021. The plan is to add six iROSAs, which will potentially increase the space station’s power by more than 30% once they are all operational.
Two more arrays were delivered to the space station Nov. 27 aboard SpaceX Dragon’s 26 commercial resupply mission, which also Brought dwarf tomato seeds and other experiments to the orbiting laboratory. The panels are rolled up like a carpet and each weighs 750 pounds (340 kilograms) and is 10 feet (3 meters) wide.
Casada and Rubio actually installed one outside the space station during their Dec. 3 spacewalk.
During Thursday’s spacewalk, the pair will install a solar array to increase the capacity of one of the space station’s eight power channels, located on the left beam.
Once deployed and secured in place, the array will be approximately 63 feet (19 m) long and 20 feet (6 m) wide.
The space station’s original solar panels still work, but they’ve been providing power for over 20 years and are showing signs of wear After prolonged exposure to the space environment. The arrays were originally designed to last 15 years.
Erosion can be caused by thrusters, which come from both station thrusters and those of crew and cargo vehicles traveling to and from the station, as well as small meteor debris.
The new solar panels are placed in front of the original panels. This is a good test because equipment using the same design will power parts of the planned Gateway lunar outpost, which will help humans return to the moon NASA Artemis Program.
The new berries will have a similar life expectancy of 15 years. However, as the spoilage of the original berries was expected to be worse, the team will make a new observation To test its longevity as it may last longer.
While US spacewalks continue, Russian spacewalks by cosmonauts aboard the space station have yet to be suspended Refrigerant leak detection Soyuz MS-22 spacecraftdocked in the Russian part of the space station.
The leak was discovered on December 14 before Russia’s planned spacewalk, when liquid began leaking from the Soyuz.
According to a Dec. 15 report, the Soyuz’s external coolant loop is the suspected source of the leak. Update by NASA.
While the space station crew remained safe, the investigation into the leak is still ongoing. At a press conference on Thursday, Montalbano said it was not yet clear what caused the 4-millimeter hole in the spacecraft, though it could be space debris or a hardware problem.
NASA and its Russian counterpart Roscosmos are still considering whether to bring the Soyuz spacecraft home soon and whether it is safe to carry a crew.
NASA’s Soyuz MS-22 rover carried Rubio and two Russian cosmonauts to the space station on Sept. 21 and is expected to return them to Earth in March.
