MOSCOW. Nov 2 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian manned spacecraft Soyuz will get more powerful solar batteries, an additional shield from meteors and a new rendezvous system in the coming three years, a space industry source told Interfax-AVN on Tuesday.
"Upgraded solar batteries will be installed on the Soyuz starting from November 2011, an additional meteor shield from March 2012 and the new Russian rendezvous and docking radar system Kurs from November 2013," the source said.
There is a need to upgrade solar batteries due to growing energy consumption by the ship's modernized systems.
"The surface of two solar batteries will be filled with photoelectric converters with an increased performance coefficient," he said.