Tech Shout!

US astronauts put in the final touches on a new solar power unit for the International Space Station on Sunday while they completed their fourth and final spacewalk before the scheduled departure of the shuttle Atlantis on June 19.

The final spacewalk lasted for 6.5 hours. During this time, Atlantis crew members Patrick Forrester and Steven Swanson managed to set up a rotary joint for a new array of solar panels that track the sun. The two wing-like solar panels will generate around 30 kilowatts of additional electricity for the ISS.

Besides, the two astronauts also installed a computer network cable onto the US-made Unity Module; removed a global positioning system antenna and installed a piece of debris shielding on the Destiny lab.

During the last space walk, Danny Olivas used surgical staples to pin down a corner of the heat blanket that had come loose when the shuttle reached escape velocity from the Kennedy Space Center on June 8.

The guidance system of the ISS will also be tested today, to make sure that it is working fine. On June 12, the computers in the ISS had crashed.

Should any problems arise, the shuttle has enough supplies to last until June 20. But, it is currently scheduled to leave the station on June 19 and will return to Kennedy Space Center on June 21.

The computer malfunction that took place a few days ago is believed to have been caused by an electrical problem.

Also, the European Space Agency has said that the European module and cargo ship scheduled to leave for the ISS later have the same computer system. Thus, investigations are currently being done to determine whether changes need to be made before they are launched.