Astronauts are working extensively to give the International Space Station a power boost. In a recent spacewalk, the astronauts installed another solar array. Astronauts Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Shane Kimbrough of NASA exited the space laboratory to deploy the new solar array.

The spacewalk took 6 hours and 45 minutes to finish, but the deployment of the array after installation took only 10 minutes. The new solar array is now functional and has started generating power for the ISS.

New arrays to provide a power boost

Dubbed ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA), the array is one of the six to be deployed as part of a long-term project to give the space outpost a much-needed upgrade. Some of the solar arrays aboard the ISS are around 20 years old, which is 5 years more than what they were originally intended for.

These older arrays are still functional; however, they produce a low amount of power and are degrading over time. The new arrays are smaller in size and generate the same amount of power and are more efficient.

More spacewalks planned

“The new solar array is positioned in front of the current solar array on the same plane and rotary joints, but not directly on top of the primary solar arrays,” says NASA. “The new arrays are 60 feet long by 20 feet wide (18.2 meters by 6 meters) and will shade a little more than half of the original array, which is 112 feet long by 39 feet wide. Each new iROSA will produce more than 20 kilowatts of electricity, while the current arrays generate, on average, 17 to 23 kilowatts each.”

Both astronauts have also performed other spacewalks in recent times. They also installed the first new solar array and might also install other panels in the coming days. They have completed a total of five spacewalks together – three for the latest project, and two in 2017 when they installed new lithium-ion batteries in place of older nickel-hydrogen batteries.