AFP, via Spacedaily


"Russian specialists believe that the new solar panel installed by the Atlantis astronauts during their spacewalk could be the origin (of the breakdown)," said Irina Gomenyuk, a spokeswoman for Energia, which designed much of the station.

This "new powerful source of energy caused a malfunction of sensitive system elements" on the Russian and American segments of the station, in particular of the electrical supply system, Gomenyuk was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS.


- Which if true, raises the question as to why the Russian "sensitive systems" were not forward-engineered for higher power tolerances in the first place - the extra panels and power input for the station were surely intended, and known, from the outset. So, why blame the Yanks for just doing the job as intended?

At the very least one would expect the designers of the computer systems to be aware of possible problems with the extra power load, and issue a warning or two. But, I suppose the Russians would rather blame the Yanks for not consulting more closely with Energia about possible consequences of the extra power.