On Tuesday, September 29, the Russian State Space Corporation (Roscosmos) announced that astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) had found the source of a suspicious leak. The crew of the expedition – NASA astronaut and commander Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Wagner – had been searching for the leak since August, and determined it was “above expectations.”
Roscosmos also said in a statement that “it was established that the site is located in the Zvezda (Star) service module, which has scientific equipment.” They insisted that the leak “does not endanger the life and health of the ISS crew and that the ISS does not continuously block man-made flights.” However, additional oxygen is required at the station due to the amount of atmosphere lost.
The leak was isolated overnight on Monday (Sept. 28) due to crew and analysis efforts conducted by mission control teams on the ground. Its beginnings include U.S., European and Japanese modules. Leaks made in the department caused checks. Commander Cassidy, Ivanishin and Wagner were then instructed to collect data from various locations in the Russian segment.
They proceeded to close the Zwezda front and after hatches and other modules connected to the passageway, then used an ultrasonic leak detector to collect data. Meanwhile, U.S. And Russian experts measured overnight pressure to isolate and isolate the source of the leak. Once that was done, the crew reopened the hatch between the US and Russian segments and resumed their normal activities.
A change in the temporary temperature at the station since then has been considered the size of the leak, but the overall rate of the leak has apparently remained the same. Sergei Krikalov, executive director of Russia’s man-made space programs, insisted it would take some time to find, but the ISS has always been a little harmful in the air because of the air purification system:
“These leaks are predictable. What is happening now is more than standard leakage and naturally if it lasts longer, it will need extra air supply to the station … [The source is] Not for sure. We have time. Leaks of course exist. It’s not good that it’s there, but it’s not important. “
Subsequently, Roscosmos has released new information saying that they further isolated the leak location. According to their recent results, it is located in the transfer chamber – one of the four sections of the Zvezda service module. They also confirmed that “the leak will not pose any immediate risk to the crew at the current leak rate and will slightly deviate from the crew’s schedule.”
This is not the first time astronauts aboard the ISS have clashed with a leak at the station. In August 2018, crew members of Expedition 56 found a hole in the wall of a Russian-made Soyuz space capsule that docked with the ISS. When Roscosmos announced in 2019 that it had determined the source of the leak, they have not yet released the information.
In the meantime, the ISS found an advanced Cygnus cargo craft that launched over the weekend from NASA’s Wall Street Flight facility in Virginia. The cargo includes a new space toilet – the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) – and many scientific experiments and technology demonstrators designed to advance everything from medicine to space nutrition.
These include the ammonia electroxidation experiment, which can convert ammonia into drinking water and electricity; Plant Habitat-02 experiment, which will grow radishes on the ISS; investigation of co-selectors, which will test the treatment of cancer in microgravity; A 360-degree camera that will record footage for NASA’s VR ISS experience; And a rhodium space rhizosphere experiment that will test how different types of soil are rented in microgravity.
The ISS crew is also awaiting the next launch of Expedition 64 astronauts who will take their place at the station. The crew will include cosmonauts Sergey Ryazikov (commander) and Sergei Kud-Sverkov (flight engineer 2), and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins (flight engineer 1). All are currently at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and are preparing for the launch on Wednesday, October 14th.
Further reading: Phys.R.O.
