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'We got it done!' Spacewalking astronauts finish installing next-gen ISS solar arrays
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NASA's Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency's Joshua Kutryk installed and deployed the eighth and final ISS Roll-Out Solar Array during a 6-hour, 59-minute spacewalk on Thursday, Nov. 5. The Expedition 75 flight engineers worked on the station's starboard truss on the 3B power channel. "We got it done!" Menon radioed afterward.
The pair retrieved the 750-pound (340-kilogram) iROSA from temporary stowage, moved it with the Canadarm2 robotic arm, and mounted it to a preassembled bracket. Menon connected cables to tie the array into station systems. Controllers then saw only half the expected shunt current, pausing deployment.
To inspect the connectors safely, the astronauts waited until the ISS entered Earth's shadow because the arrays generate electricity in sunlight. They used the interval to clean the worksite and return Canadarm2 to its park position. Ground teams later reported good shunt currents and cleared deployment.
After two bolts were released, the iROSA unfurled to its full 63-foot (19-meter) length in about 10 minutes. No motor was needed; the array used potential energy stored in rolled-up carbon composite booms. Menon said the hardware is half the size of the original arrays and brings 40% more power.
NASA says the eight iROSAs can produce as much as 30% more electricity, supplementing legacy solar wings that exceeded their 15-year design life. Each array and mounting assembly arrived aboard SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft, with deployments beginning in June 2021. The upgrades are meant to support ISS operations through its planned retirement and controlled deorbit in late 2030.
Mission Control spacewalk officer Nichole Stilwell congratulated the crew on completing the power-system upgrades. She noted the work came as the station surpassed 26 years of continuous human presence. The final iROSA marks the end of a 15-year development effort to extend the orbiting laboratory's electrical capacity.
