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January 16, 2021

Ready For a Jolt? Six More Solar Arrays To Be Installed On ISS

Augmented Power System Will Enhance Station’s Health, Capabilities

The International Space Station’s (ISS) growing research capabilities and commercial opportunities wiill be augmented with new solar arrays to increase the orbiting laboratory’s power supply. The modification to Boeing’s ISS sustainment contract with NASA calls for them to deliver six additional solar arrays to NASA for installation beginning in 2021. The new 63-foot-by-20-foot arrays will together produce more than 120 kilowatts of electricity from the sun’s energy, enough to power more than 40 average U.S. homes.

Eighth And Final Test Of The Green Run Series

NASA is targeting a two-hour test window that opens at 5 p.m. EST Saturday, Jan. 16, for the hot fire test of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket core stage at the agency’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The hot fire is the eighth and final test of the Green Run series to ensure the core stage of the SLS rocket is ready to launch Artemis missions to the Moon, beginning with Artemis I. The core stage includes the liquid hydrogen tank and liquid oxygen tank, four RS-25 engines, and the computers, electronics, and avionics that serve as the “brains” of the rocket.