Power System Of The ISS Will Get An Update; Crucial Spacewalk Will Be Conducted

Astronauts are getting ready for two International Space Station (ISS) spacewalks scheduled in January. It is for the crucial update of the power generating system of the orbital lab.

The Expedition 50 crew members are designated to venture outside the ISS on Jan. 6 and Jan. 13. They will replace the old nickel-hydrogen batteries with the new lithium-ion batteries in the truss structure of the station.

Public Affairs Officer of NASA Dan Huot told the SpaceFlight Insider that, "The spacewalks will be an important upgrade to the station's power generation system."

The first EVA or the extra-vehicular activity will be performed by Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson, both are NASA astronauts. A week later, Thomas Pesquet from the European Space Agency (ESA) will join Shane Kimbrough.

Dan Hout shared that, "The spacewalkers will have the task of installing adapter plates and hooking up electrical connectors, something that they have done extensive training on in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston."

This will be the first to happen that the adapter plates will be installed. Back in 2009, NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy replaced four nickel-hydrogen batteries.

The new batteries known as lithium-Ion battery Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs) were previously delivered to the ISS in December 2016 by the sixth Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-6), according to SpaceFlight Now. 

The batteries weigh about 550 pounds each and were designed by Aerojet Rocketdyne and are manufactured by the GS Yuasa Technology Ltd. that is a Japanese company. In total, 24 new batteries will be installed on the ISS. The remaining ones will be scheduled to be delivered by the future HTV missions.

Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO and President Eileen Drake said that, "Efficient, reliable and safe electrical power systems is absolutely critical for the astronauts who live on the International Space Station. It's also important for the research they conduct to better understand life in space and here on Earth. It's a privilege to know our lithium-ion batteries are helping to make that possible."

The current 48 nickel-metal-hydride batteries on board the ISS that were made in the U.S. are needed to be replaced. It is because they are currently approaching the end of their service life, which is more or less 6.5 years.