NASA ponders space station power problem

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Two spacewalking astronauts on Sunday found metal shavings inside a huge gear that spins a pair of the International Space Station's solar wing panels, raising concerns about power supplies and the long-term health of the orbital outpost.

The inspection of one of the $100 billion space station's two solar panel rotary joints was added to the second of five spacewalks planned during the space shuttle Discovery's ongoing construction and servicing mission to the station.

NASA immediately laid out plans to minimize the number of times the affected device rotates, cutting the amount of power the station can produce. The joint spins a pair of panels studded with solar cells to track the sun for power.

Space station program manager Mike Suffredini said he was hopeful engineers would come up with a plan to manage the station's power that would allow NASA to launch Europe's Columbus laboratory on schedule aboard the space shuttle Atlantis on December 6.

"We have lots of time to work through this problem," Suffredini said. "It's not an immediate issue."

He said, however, that some experiments planned to be carried out in the new lab may have to be postponed if the station's power supplies are inadequate.

During Sunday's spacewalk, astronauts Scott Parazynski and Dan Tani prepared another solar wing segment for relocation to the outer edge of the station's frame.

The gear problem makes it even more critical that the twin panels unfurl as planned later this week.