Concerns about "catastrophe": USA and Russia disagree on danger of ISS leak
Oxygen has been leaking from a Russian module on the International Space Station for years. NASA and Roskosmos are still not in agreement about the danger.
The ISS
(Image: NASA)
Five years after a leak occurred on the International Space Station (ISS), there is no agreement between those responsible in the USA and Russia as to what is behind it and how serious the problem is. This became public during a meeting of NASA's ISS Advisory Committee last week, reports SpaceNews. Committee head Bob Catana explained that the Russian space agency Roskosmos believes the leak in the Russian segment is due to "high cyclic fatigue" caused by micro-vibrations, while NASA believes several factors are responsible, "including pressure, mechanical stress, material properties and environmental influences". The US space agency is concerned that the leak could have "catastrophic" consequences for the ISS.
Not convincing each other
"The Russians believe that continued operation is safe, but cannot prove this to our satisfaction; the USA believes that this is not the case, but cannot prove it to the Russians' satisfaction," the industry magazine quotes the former astronaut as saying. For this reason, the committee has now advocated continuing to work towards a common understanding and also consulting external experts: "This is an engineering problem and good engineers should be able to find a solution and agree on it." Just a few weeks ago, after analyzing material samples, NASA concluded that there was no immediate danger to the structural integrity of the space station. Nevertheless, it is considered a "top safety risk".
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The leak was first discovered in 2019, but it had become noticeably larger at the beginning of the year. Since then, around 900 grams of cabin air have been leaking per day. However, because it is located behind an airlock that can be sealed, this only happens when it is open. According to Cabana, connections to the US segment are now also closed when work is being carried out in the affected module. Although NASA has assured that the problem is "manageable" and within acceptable specifications, work is underway to close it. In the spring, an anonymous source even spoke of a "wildfire" that those responsible had in their hands, but which they could not extinguish. There is no timetable for further action; the ISS is to remain in operation until the end of the decade.
(mho)
