Overview
- The eighth and final International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA) was installed and unfurled Thursday, closing a five‑year program to augment the lab’s aging original wings.
- NASA’s Anil Menon and CSA’s Joshua Kutryk performed U.S. Spacewalk 101, a 6‑hour, 59‑minute EVA that returned the crew to the Quest airlock after completing the installation.
- Flight controllers saw lower‑than‑expected current after the array was hooked up, so the crew inspected and reseated a power connector during an orbital night pass and engineers then cleared the array for deployment.
- Each iROSA uses strain‑energy composite booms to roll out without motors, adds about 8 kilowatts, and together the eight add‑ons increase station capacity from roughly 160 kW to about 215 kW; the units were built by Redwire and delivered on SpaceX cargo flights.
- With the power upgrade finished, NASA says the extra capacity will support life support, science experiments and visiting vehicles through the ISS’s planned retirement and controlled deorbit, and the agency expects to shift U.S. EVA work next to other upgrades early next year.