Word: solarization
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...immediate goal of Friday's fix-it call was to install a new hatch on Spektr--one equipped with a cable assembly that would let the crew tap electrical power from the lab's solar panels while keeping the module sealed off from the rest of the station. Before the walk got started, NASA's Greg Harbaugh, who helped plan the exercise, played down its difficulty, brushing off news reports calling it the most dangerous EVA ever. "I don't think they get much easier," he said...
Even before Vinogradov finished, the space station's solar panels apparently caught a shaft of sunlight, and power began flowing to the blacked-out lab, causing it to stir to life. "I can see fans spinning and pumps working," he called out. "You're giving us really good news," a controller said, laughing. "Russian equipment works even in a total vacuum...
With or without power, however, Mir remains a troubled ship. Earlier in the week, Solovyev was guiding an unmanned cargo craft in for a remote-control docking when the station's computer suddenly quit, sending the entire hydra-headed Mir into a slow roll. This swung its solar panels out of alignment with the sun, causing power to flicker and fade, and with it the TV monitor Solovyev was using to steer the cargo ship. But the veteran cosmonaut stayed cool, flying the craft blind until it was safely docked. That, said James van Laak, one of NASA...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: After combing over a year's worth of data from the Solar Heliospheric Observatory satellite, NASA today unveils startling photos that may help scientists unravel some of the sun's most perplexing mysteries. Among the satellite's more intriguing revelations: pictures that may help astronomers predict solar storms, which disrupt satellite communications and blow out power grids on earth...
...TIME science correspondent Dick Thompson explains: "With the help of SOHO, scientists may now have a handle on when and where solar storms will occur. The end result is that satellites, power stations and astronauts can be better warned and protected." Budget concerns, however, may force NASA to pull the plug on the satellite. Thompson says they couldn't have picked a worse time to flick the switch: The sun is about to go into solar maximum, its most violent period ? and the most scientifically useful...