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ISS power rises 30% after seven solar arrays installed

By Drooid · Oct 31, 2026 · How we work

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Summary

Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk and NASA astronaut Anil Menon installed seven Roll Out Solar Arrays on the ISS.
The spacewalk lasted seven hours eleven minutes, from 7:57 a.m. to 3:08 p.m. EDT.
Power capacity rose from 160 kilowatts to 215 kilowatts, a potential 30 percent increase.
A second spacewalk is planned for November 5 to install the eighth array and complete the upgrade.

History

In November 1998 the Russian-built Zarya module launched with the ISS’s first solar arrays, delivering only about 75-90 kW of power. After Sunita Williams demonstrated the 8-kW Roll-Out Solar Array prototype during a 2009 EVA, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency have begun installing new ROSA panels. The upgrades will raise station power well above the original capacity, enabling longer experiments and supporting future lunar-orbit habitats.

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In November 1998 the Russian-built Zarya module launched with the ISS’s first solar arrays, delivering only about 75-90 kW of power. After Sunita Williams demonstrated the 8-kW Roll-Out Solar Array prototype during a 2009 EVA, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency have begun installing new ROSA panels. The upgrades will raise station power well above the original capacity, enabling longer experiments and supporting future lunar-orbit habitats.

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