- Aug 28, 2014
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More useless information and trivia: The length of stay at ISS has not been determined. They are testing the solar panels on the trunk. You can see them in the picture below. The trunk can carry cargo or when they leave they fill it with garbage and let it burn up on reentry. However the panels are needed to generate some power when it undocks and heads home. But they don't know for sure how long they will last. Unlike normal panels that "flap in the breeze" these are attached to the side of the vehicle so they have an issue shedding heat. Plus they go through two heat cycles every 90 minutes. But that's not the real problem. It turns out that there is a little bit of atmospheric oxygen floating around even at that altitude and that degrades these solar panels. So they are going to monitor their performance and when it gets below a certain level they'll head home.