NASA flight engineer Kate Rubins and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi exited the station on Friday shortly after 6:30 a.m. ET in a continuation of the effort to ready the station for solar array upgrades.
Four pairs of solar panels soak up the sun’s energy to provide electrical power to ISS systems and the arrays are now showing signs of degradation after operating for decades.
The panels are designed for a 15-year service life and the first pair was deployed in December 2000, with additional pairs delivered in 2006, 2007 and 2009.
Rubins and Noguchi will spend 6.5 hours outside the ISS to complete several tasks including venting ammonia from the Early Ammonia System and installing a stiffener device on the Quest airlock thermal cover.
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NASA astronauts have completed a seven-hour spacewalk to prepare the International Space Station for the arrival of a new set of solar panels that will help support the ageing array that’s been serving the station since December 2000.
Spaceflight Insider
Derek Richardson
February 28th, 2021
NASA astronauts Kate Rubins, top, and Victor Glover work to assemble a truss-like structure that will hold a set of new solar arrays in the near future. Credit: NASA
Expedition 64 flight engineers and NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover ventured outside the International Space Station for the first of two spacewalks to ready the outpost for new solar arrays later this year.
The seven hour extravehicular activity involved the duo assembling structures on the far port-side solar array mast canisters where a pair of new roll-out solar arrays are expected to be attached after their delivery later this year. The work is expected to be completed during another outing later this week.
By Ross Wilkers
Feb 23, 2021
Redwire has completed its third acquisition in as many months that also represents deal number seven for the space platform and component company.
The latest deal announced Tuesday sees Redwire purchase Deployable Space Systems, a maker of solar arrays and other structures. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
One of DSS’ flagship products is its Roll-Out Solar Array that NASA will use later this year to update those that are on the International Space Station. DSS’ offerings also include satellite mechanisms, booms, mechanical systems and other subsystems.
Redwire is backed by private equity firm AE Industrial Partners and has used that support for these acquisitions since the company’s mid-2020 launch: Adcole Space, Deep Space Systems, Made In Space, Roccor, LoadPath and Oakman Aerospace.