Space Station dismantling solar panels video

Astronauts are currently installing the first of six new solar arrays on the International Space Station (ISS), in a bid to bolster the reduced power generation capability of the original panels which have now been in space for over twenty years.

As expected, the efficiency of the station's original solar arrays has degraded over time. NASA is upgrading the space station's power system with the new roll-out solar arrays — at a cost of $103 million — which will partially cover six of the station's eight original solar panels.

The International Space Station has eight power channels, each fed with electrical power generated from one solar array wing extending from the station's truss backbone. The new solar array deployed Saturday will produce electricity for the space station's 3A power channel.

It was the second extravehicular activity, or spacewalk, of the ongoing Shenzhou 17 crewed mission at China's Tiangong space station. A pair of Chinese astronauts spent eight hours outside their space station last weekend to carry out repairs on the facility.

The new solar arrays were supplied to NASA by Boeing, Redwire, and a team of subcontractors. Once the new iROSA unit was mechanical and electrically integrated onto the station's S4 truss, the astronauts released clamps keeping the roll-out solar array spooled in its launch configuration.

So NASA has turned to next-generation solar arrays that roll out like a tape measure and are light and compact enough for the SpaceX Dragon to carry them into orbit. Space Shuttle Atlantis carrying part of the ISS truss.