SpaceX Dragon to blast-off in days with vital supplies for astronauts on orbiting lab

A NASA spokesperson said: “The Dragon spacecraft will deliver a variety of NASA investigations, including the next pair of International Space Station Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs), which will augment power to the orbiting laboratory.”

Since its inception, NASA explained, the ISS has been powered by “large, heavy and complex” solar panels. As expected, however, these have slowly degraded with time. Beginning in 2017, therefore, the space agency began an experiment with the installation of the first Roll Out Solar Array (ROSA), unfurled from the orbiting lab using the station’s robotic arm.

NASA explained: “Instead of a rigid solar panel, ROSA was crafted from a composite carbon fibre containing an array of solar cells that can be deployed and retracted similar to a tape measure, using stored strain energy of the material. ROSA was also lightweight, and generated power with more efficiency.

“Now, larger versions of ROSA technology, known as iROSA, are being installed on the station permanently through a series of launches and spacewalks. The arrays augment the existing power supply and restore power to [the] previous levels [seen] when the original arrays were installed.”

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Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1698713/spacex-nasa-dragon-cargo-launch-international-space-station-iss-monday