The International Space Station is receiving 4 tons of cargo, including provisions for the crew and research equipment, from Northrop Grumman’s NG-18 Cygnus space freighter. Although Cygnus has been making progress toward its Wednesday target arrival at the ISS, the journey from Virginia has not been without its share of bumps. The spaceship’s only deployed solar panel is one of two.
On Monday, NASA released a brief statement on the problem, adding that Northrop Grumman is now collecting data on the second array deployment and is working closely with NASA to determine what went wrong. According to Northrop Grumman, the spacecraft has enough thrust to reach the ISS on time. NASA has claimed that it is “evaluating this and the configuration needed for capture and berthing.”
The solar panels on an unmanned cargo ship fold up before takeoff and unfold into round fans after the spacecraft has reached orbit. Northrop Grumman released a video in 2015 that demonstrates the procedure.
The S.S. Cygnus is the official moniker for this specific Cygnus spaceship. For the first American woman to go into space, Sally Ride. There are several really interesting experiments on board, including ones that use 3D printing to create human tissue and others that attempt to grow plants in microgravity.
The Cygnus cargo ship never made it back to Earth. Crew members will load it up with junk before it undocks, returns to Earth’s atmosphere, and burns up like an elaborate garbage disposal.
During Monday’s livestreamed briefing for an upcoming spacewalk, NASA delivered a short update on the Cygnus. Dina Contella, the manager of ISS operations integration, reported that the space station was healthy and that Northrop Grumman was working on installing the second array.
Space solar panels provide unique challenges. One of the fan-like solar arrays of NASA’s Lucy spacecraft, which is designed to explore asteroids, failed to completely deploy following its 2021 launch. Despite the problem, the spaceship continues on with its goal.
As additional information becomes available, NASA will share it with the public about Cygnus’s current status, solar array deployment, and docking. As the S.S. Sally Ride carries some priceless cargo, we can only hope that a single array is sufficient.
