Someone’s got it in for the ISS - December 14, 2007
It must seem to the people responsible for the International Space Station that someone up there doesn’t like them. Ongoing problems with its power supply may be added to by a meteor strike, Reuters is reporting.
A spacewalk is planned to see if a micrometeor knocked out a “critical part of the outpost's power system” says Reuters. No other details are provided but any damage could be costly given one set of solar panels is already suffering problems with rotating to face the Sun and another tore when it was being unfurled.
Although this latest problem will probably not cause problems with the European lab that is due to be hoisted up to the ISS in January, it may cause problems with a planned Japanese module, station deputy program manager Kirk Shireman told Reuters.
Image: ISS seen from shuttle Discovery after undocking / NASA