The ISS Is Leaking Air—And NASA and Russia Can’t Agree Why

For the past 5 years, aerial has been escaping done a Russian conception of the International Space Station (ISS) astatine an expanding rate. NASA and its Russian counterpart, Roscosmos, are inactive successful disagreement implicit the basal origin of the leak, arsenic good arsenic the severity of the consequences.

The leak was archetypal discovered successful 2019 successful the vestibule (named PrK) that connects a docking larboard to the Russian Zvezda module, which Roscosmos had launched to debased Earth orbit successful July 2000. Earlier this year, NASA elevated the leak to the highest level of hazard arsenic the complaint of aerial escaping from the module had doubled from 1 lb of aerial per time to a small implicit 2 pounds.

“While the Russian squad continues to hunt for and seal the leaks, it does not judge catastrophic disintegration of the PrK is realistic,” Bob Cabana, a erstwhile NASA astronaut who present chairs the ISS Advisory Committee, said during a gathering connected Wednesday, SpaceNews reported. “NASA has expressed concerns astir the structural integrity of the PrK and the anticipation of a catastrophic failure.”

“The Russians judge that continued operations are harmless but they can’t beryllium to our restitution that they are, and the U.S. believes that it’s not harmless but we can’t beryllium to the Russians’ restitution that that’s the case,” helium added.

Russian teams judge the aerial leak was apt caused by precocious cyclic fatigue from micro vibrations, portion teams astatine NASA deliberation unit and mechanical stress, residual stress, worldly properties of the module, and biology vulnerability are each astatine play, according to SpaceNews.

The aerial leak was addressed successful a caller report by NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), which highlighted its existent severity and the hazard it poses to the crew. The OIG study stated that the 2 abstraction agencies can’t look to hold connected the constituent astatine which the leak should beryllium considered unsustainable. 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.

“Although the teams proceed to analyse the causal factors for the ace initiation and growth, the U.S. and Russian method teams don’t person a communal knowing of what the apt basal origin is oregon the severity of the consequences of these leaks,” Cabana is quoted successful SpaceNews arsenic saying.

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.

NASA and Roscosmos are presently monitoring the leak and preparing to adjacent the hatch to the work module erstwhile entree is not required successful bid to minimize the magnitude of aerial mislaid and isolate the leak itself from the remainder of the abstraction station. If required, the abstraction agencies are prepared 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.

As the 2 abstraction agencies proceed to sermon the imaginable risk, the aging abstraction presumption is inching person to status wrong the adjacent six years and its hardware whitethorn yet beryllium giving successful to the deterioration and teardrop of the harsh abstraction environment.