Damon Hill wrote:
Alex Terrell wrote in news:1186987878.631674.60830@
22g2000hsm.googlegroups.com:

From http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6943451.stm

The mission is scheduled to last for 11 days but can be extended to 14
thanks to a new piece of equipment that allows the shuttle to tap into
the power grid of the ISS.

Basically a voltage converter to drop the station voltage to the
Shuttle's 28 VDC bus; it's a set of 2 kilowatt inverters. The
Shuttle does not have any batteries to speak of, other than
the fuel cells which are also electrochemical devices just like
batteries.

Why hasn't it been done before? I dunno...maybe issues of
efficiency, reliability, weight and size reduction?

Station may not have had the extra power to spare until the
additional solar array was launched and put online. It may be
that the new array included batteries as well.

--Damon

The Greenies will be happy that the shuttle is now partly solar powered.

Sylvia.