re: So what's up with the carbon panels? - Good questions, Fox and...
... what of Soyuz? In today's briefing, questions came up as to the upgrading of Soyuz. Apparently, they/Russians will be doing an upgrading not unlike that of the shuttles, which means upgrading of instruments for now, BUT, the Russians are also looking into other upgrades, including one that actually would land as in like our shuttles, we'll see. I wish them luck.