Power outages caused black outs on parts of the ISS, putting a SpaceX mission in the coming days in jeopardy. NASA said a power system had malfunctioned, meaning electricity was not properly rerouted around the orbiting laboratory. The space agency said in a statement: “Monday morning, teams identified an issue with the International Space Station’s electrical power system and are working to identify the root cause and restore full power to the system.
“Flight controllers have been working to route power through the remaining six power channels.
“Electrical power generated by the station’s solar arrays is fed to all station systems through these power channels.”
As a result, a SpaceX mission may have to be postponed.
The privately owned rocket firm had agreed to deliver a Dragon supply ship containing three tonnes of experiments, provisions and supply.
SpaceX’s CRS-17 cargo was due to lift off on May 1, but it is looking more likely that the launch will be delayed now until Friday, May 3 as astronauts scramble to re-power the ISS.
NASA continued: “Discussions are underway to determine any impacts to SpaceX’s CRS-17 cargo resupply mission targeted for launch May 1.”
The ISS has experienced a few mishaps in the past few months, not least a hole which was found on the interior of the ship.
On August 29 last year, astronauts on the ISS awoke to discover a leak on the space station was causing it to lose oxygen.
The six people on the ISS hurried to find the minute hole before they ran out of air.
It was originally thought the leak, which was quickly discovered and sealed, was caused by a tiny meteor which hit the ISS.
