Chinese Astronauts Fix Space Station Power Supply After Debris Hit

JIUQUAN, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Apr, 2024) The Shenzhou-17 crew in China's space station have repaired the core module's solar wings, which had been damaged by space debris, through two spacewalks during the country's first extravehicular maintenance mission, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said Wednesday.

The crew is scheduled to return to Earth on April 30 after completing the in-orbit work handover to the Shenzhou-18 crew.

The repair work highlighted the role of a manned spacecraft in coping with unintended problems in orbit, said Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the CMSA at a press conference.

The space station's core module Tianhe had suffered a partial loss of power supply due to the impact of the space debris on the solar wing's power cables, Lin said.

Noting that the space station has executed maneuvers on multiple occasions to evade space debris impacts, Lin said preventive measures were taken to mitigate hazards stemming from the growing human activities in space in recent years.

China has enhanced its capability to precisely forecast the orbits of the space station and small low-orbit targets, optimized the procedures for space collision warning and avoidance, and reduced the false alarm rate by 30 percent, according to Lin.