Growing Air Leak in Russian Segment Now Deemed Greatest ISS Risk, Report Reveals

The International Space Station (ISS) houses astronauts astatine an altitude of 250 miles supra the aboveground of Earth successful a (mostly) sealed environment. For the past 5 years, however, aerial has been escaping astatine an expanding complaint from a passageway that connects a docking larboard to a Russian module. The leak was addressed successful a caller report, which revealed the existent severity of the contented and the hazard it poses to the crew.

The report, published Thursday by NASA’s Office of Inspector General, details however the ISS programme had elevated the aerial leak to the highest level of hazard based connected its likelihood and severity. The heightened hazard probability was the effect of a noticeable summation discovered successful February successful the complaint of aerial that has been leaking from Russia’s Zvezda module, which had doubled from 1 lb of aerial per time to a small implicit 2 pounds.

The OIG study highlights respective different risks, including constricted evacuation options for the unit during emergencies, the lack of a deorbit conveyance successful the ISS deorbit plan, and rising attraction costs for the station.

The leak was archetypal discovered successful September 2019. Roscosmos reported the detection of an aerial leak recovered successful the vestibule (named PrK) that connects a docking larboard to the Russian Zvezda module, which the abstraction bureau had launched to debased Earth orbit successful July 2000. The complaint of aerial leaking from the spread accrued astir a week earlier the February 14 motorboat of the Progress MS-26 cargo spacecraft, which docked to the aft extremity of Zvezda. The hatch that connects the module to the ISS remained unfastened for 5 days arsenic the unit offloaded the cargo from Progress MS-26 onto the abstraction station, but was closed unopen afterwards.

In May and June, NASA and Roscosmos met to sermon the ISS aerial leak, with NASA officials noting that Roscosmos “is assured they volition beryllium capable to show and adjacent the hatch to the Service Module anterior to the leak complaint reaching an untenable level,” according to the report. However, the 2 abstraction agencies can’t look to hold connected the constituent astatine which the leak should beryllium considered untenable.

In the meantime, NASA and Roscosmos are monitoring the aerial leak and preparing to adjacent the hatch to the work module erstwhile entree is not required successful bid to minimize the magnitude of aerial lost, arsenic good arsenic to isolate the leak itself from the remainder of the abstraction station. If it becomes indispensable to permanently unopen disconnected the hatch should the leak complaint became unmanageable, the ISS would relation normally, but determination would beryllium 1 little docking larboard for spacecraft delivering cargo to the abstraction station. With the hatch closed, the ISS would besides necessitate much propellant to support its altitude and cognition (closing the hatch could interaction the cognition of the orbital lab, requiring the ISS’s propulsion strategy to marque much predominant oregon aggravated orbital adjustments).

Despite giving it the highest level of risk, NASA sought to underplay the hazard posed by the aerial leak during a caller property conference. Robyn Gatens, manager of the ISS programme astatine NASA, told reporters connected Friday that caller repair enactment had reduced the leak complaint by astir 1 third, SpaceNews reported.

The root of the leak remains unknown, but determination haven’t been different aerial leaks discovered connected the ISS arsenic of June. The ISS has been successful orbit for astir 25 years, and the harsh situation of abstraction has taken its toll connected the orbiting lab. Although the ISS is acceptable to discontinue by 2031, plunging itself towards an isolated portion of the Pacific Ocean, NASA is present considering extending its operations should its commercialized replacements not beryllium acceptable to instrumentality its spot by that time. However, extending the ISS’s lifespan increases the hazard posed by its aging structures and demands “significant funding” for continued cognition and maintenance, according to the inspector wide report.