New solar array being unfurled on international space station
New solar array being unfurled on international space stationHouston, June 13 (AP): A new set of solar panels gleamed in the sunlight on the international space station as the freshly installed array started opening up.
The first pair of solar wings was fully deployed by early afternoon yesterday. The other solar panel would be unfurled later in the day.
It is a slow process. Each wing is unfolded halfway, then allowed to warm in the sun for about 30 minutes to prevent the solar panels from sticking together.
The installation of the new array - part of the station's third pair of solar panels - started on Monday, when two astronauts hooked up the new panels, which have a total wingspan of more than 73.2 metres, during a spacewalk. Engineers at Mission Control then began remotely unfolding the array from its storage box during the night.
Today, an older solar array will be folded up so it can be moved during a later shuttle mission. The retraction of that array will allow the newly installed pair of panels to rotate, following the direction of the sun.
Atlantis arrived at the space station on Sunday and will be spending an extra couple of days in orbit to allow its astronauts time to fix a thermal blanket near the shuttle's tail that peeled back during launch.
Experts do not believe the gap would pose any threat to the astronauts, though it could allow damage to the shuttle during its re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.
Engineers at Johnson Space Center in Houston were already were practicing techniques the astronauts might use to repair the thermal blanket.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/008200706131023.htm
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