NASA has spent so much time on building the station with solar panels but did not consider an add on which was a power unit, so match that logic with a deadline and you got something even better than what NASA started out with for the space station's power unit becoming a seperate unit entirely which also could be jetisoned away if necessary. So why not start planning the stages to bring that to the station as soon as possible and make the main power unit that while having a backup power unit the one which has failed and can be repaired over time. Maybe a guess, but something some female forgot to do was to sweep out the joint properly knowing this could slow down a successful flux (of power).
Astronauts Install Solar Power Beam
Oct 30, 2007 | Updated: 5:35 a.m. ET Oct 30, 2007
Email To A Friend
Please fill in the following information and we'll email this link.
SPONSORED BY
HOUSTON — Spacewalking astronauts bolted a solar power tower to the international space station on Tuesday, completing an ambitious three-day moving process and setting the stage for the unfurling of the beam's giant solar panels.
NASA needs to get the tower up and running to prevent malfunctioning station equipment from delaying the addition of a much-anticipated European research lab.
The malfunctioning rotary joint makes sure the huge solar panel wings on the right side of the space station are facing the sun. The gear, which was installed in June, has been experiencing electrical current spikes for nearly two months.
A spacewalking astronaut found black dust resembling metal shavings inside the motorized joint on Sunday.
NASA has limited the joint's motion to prevent the debris from causing permanent damage, but that also limits the system's ability to generate power for the station.
Spacewalker Scott Parazynski will spend part of Tuesday inspecting the matching rotary joint that turns the space station's left set of solar wings toward the sun. NASA wants to see what a perfectly running unit looks like to compare it to the malfunctioning one.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next Page »
Discuss