During the walk, Hoshide and Pesquet will install a modification kit, or support bracket, that will prepare the outside of the station for future Solar Array Roll-Out installation work.
The two astronauts will work on the port inside the structure of the station’s backbone called P4. It is close to the living space of the space station.
When new solar arrays are sent to the space station, the modification kit will allow astronauts on a future spacewalk to install the third new Roll-Out Solar Array (which arrives rolled up like a carpet).
Updates to the solar grid will help update the station’s power channels.
This is the first spacewalk carried out from the lab’s Blackboard Quest orbiting by two international partner astronauts at the space station, according to NASA.
A 360-degree virtual reality camera will film Hoshide and Pesquet during their spacewalk.
During the spacewalk, Hoshide will be a member of the extravehicular crew, who will wear the space suit with red stripes, and Pesquet will be the member of the extravehicular crew two in an unmarked white suit.
It is the fourth spacewalk of Hoshide’s career and the sixth spacewalk of Pesquet. This is the 244th spacewalk to help assemble, maintain and upgrade the station.
Solar energy upgrade
Although the space station’s current solar arrays continue to operate, they have been supplying energy for more than 20 years and show some signs of wear and tear after long-term exposure to the space environment. The matrices were originally designed to last 15 years.
Dana Weigel, deputy director of the International Space Station Program, said erosion can be caused by propellant feathers, which come from both the station’s propellers and the crew and cargo vehicles coming in and out of the station.
“The other factor that affects our solar arrays is the remains of micrometeorites. The arrays are made up of many small power chains and, over time, these power chains can degrade if they are affected by debris,” he said. he said.
“The exposed part of the old matrices will continue to generate energy in parallel with the new matrices, but these new Iris matrices have more efficient solar cells than our original cells,” Weigel said.
“They have a higher energy density and, in combination, can generate more energy than our entire original matrix did, when it was new.”
The new matrices will have a similar lifespan of 15 years. However, since the degradation of the original matrices was expected to be worse, the team will monitor the new matrices to test their true longevity, as it may take longer.
Reprogramming of a space walk
Sunday’s spacewalk was rescheduled from Aug. 24, with some changes. The original spacewalk plan included NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who worked alongside Hoshide.
During the spacewalk, Vande Hei will provide support from the space station as it continues to recover.
The agency also provided an update on smoke detection at the space station earlier this week.
A Russian spacewalk continued as scheduled on Thursday, although the space station crew was awakened by a fire alarm around 10pm ET on Wednesday night.
The alarm sounded for a minute after the sensors detected smoke in the Russian Zvezda module. The smell of smoke and burning plastic was also present in the U.S. parts of the space station.
The crew reacted quickly, replaced the air filters, scrubbed the atmosphere, and all signs of smoke dissipated, according to NASA. However, at that time the source of the smoke was not identified.
Russian cosmonauts have been researching the subject and believe they have discovered a connection. They had a computer running on the module that has since been shut down. After that, the smell dissipated.
“Everything is back to normal and they haven’t repeated any problems again,” Weigel said. “So everything is stable on board.”