NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk have completed the installation of the eighth and final International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA). The mission concludes a five-year project to upgrade the station's power system, which began in June 2021.
The new solar arrays, manufactured by Redwire Space, are designed to increase the station's power generation capacity from 160 kilowatts to approximately 215 kilowatts. Each individual IROSA unit provides an additional 20 kilowatts of power to the orbiting outpost.
The spacewalk officially began at 8:36 a.m. ET when the astronauts transitioned their suits to battery power. During the operation, the crew utilized the Canadarm2 robotic arm to maneuver the hardware. The arrays were originally delivered to the station via SpaceX Cargo Dragon vehicles.
Despite encountering a minor issue with power flow to the 3B channel, the astronauts remained ahead of their planned schedule throughout the excursion. The team performed cable mating and secured the array to its mounting bracket before proceeding with final deployment procedures.
