A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft at the International Space Station (ISS) has successfully fired up a couple of newly installed Draco engines to help the facility maintain a suitable orbit.
SpaceX’s Dragon, which arrived at the ISS on August 25, completed the burn on Wednesday to test the spacecraft’s new capability of boosting the station’s altitude, NASA said. Such reboosts are vital as they counteract the station’s gradual loss of altitude caused by atmospheric drag.
The procedure involved firing up two Draco engines that have been added to the Dragon’s trunk, which also contains a new and independent propellant system.
The maneuver lasted just over five minutes, with the initial test burn increasing the station’s altitude by around one mile, leaving it in an orbit of between 256.3 miles and 260.9 miles.
The spacecraft’s new boost kit will continue to help sustain the station’s altitude with additional burns planned periodically throughout the upcoming fall. Soon after, in late December or early January, the capsule will return to Earth with research and cargo.
It’s actually not the first time that a Dragon spacecraft has been used to nudge the station into a slightly higher orbit. A similar procedure took place in November last year when the process was tested for the first time, providing proof of Dragon’s capability to assist with station reboosts using the special kit. This month’s reboost marks the start of operational use of a new, full-scale boost kit.
Up until recently, the orbital adjustment procedure has usually been carried out by Russian Progress cargo spacecraft or other cargo capsules around once or twice a month. The use of SpaceX’s Dragon vehicle adds a new commercial option for the important task.
Occasionally, boosts are needed to steer the ISS out of the way of nearby satellites or incoming space debris. In 2023, for example, a docked Progress ship fired its engines for just over five minutes to move the station well clear of an approaching Earth-imaging satellite.
