What happened
NASA astronauts Anil Menon and Jessica Meir completed a spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) to assemble a modification kit for the ISS power channel. The assembly is intended to enable later installation of solar arrays.
Reported experience and timing during the spacewalk: Jessica Meir completed her sixth spacewalk.Anil Menon completed his first spacewalk.The spacewalk finished shortly before 12:30 a.m. IST on Friday.
Background and earlier position
The ISS uses solar arrays to generate electricity and uses internal electrical systems and interfaces to distribute that power to onboard users. For planned upgrades to solar array capacity, external interface preparation and external hardware assembly are often needed so later installation steps can proceed with fewer changes to interfaces and wiring pathways.
In ISS operations, the term power channel refers to the station’s power routing and related connection interfaces that link external power generation equipment to the station’s electrical systems.
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