NASA engineers are investigating a power issue on the International Space Station, which is delaying an upcoming flight to the orbiting lab. On Monday, a switch failure caused some of the station’s power channels to go down. The ISS still has power, though, and the problem doesn’t pose any threat to the crew, but NASA needs to replace the switch before spacecraft can visit the ISS again.
To generate power, the ISS boasts eight long solar arrays on the outside of the station that convert sunlight into electricity. That electricity is then rerouted throughout the ISS via four switches known as MBSUs. But now, one of those four switches is acting up. As a result, two of the eight power channels that provide electricity to the station aren’t…
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