NASA is concerned about air and pressure leak that a Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) hassince it considers that it could cause a “catastrophic failure”. On the other hand, the Russian space agency, Roscosmosconsiders that the problem is not that serious.
The danger stems from a small but persistent leak that was discovered in 2019 in the lobby of the Russian Zvezda service modulea area called PrK that connects with one of the docking ports since July 2000. Although there were more leaks, the one at this point has been identified as the most serious.
Lack of consensus
At first, the problem was under control, but Leak rates have doubled from half a kilo of air loss per day to one kilo. For this reason, NASA “has expressed concerns about the structural integrity of the leaking module and the possibility of catastrophic failure“, the former astronaut of the US agency Bob Cabanachairman of the agency’s ISS Advisory Committee, during a meeting on the topic Wednesday.
However, Roscosmos “does not believe that a catastrophic disintegration is realistic”although he has ordered his cosmonauts to identify and work with problem areas. “Russians think it’s safe continue operations, but they cannot demonstrate this to our satisfaction. AND The United States believes it is not safebut we cannot prove it to Russia’s satisfaction,” reflects Cabana.
Although the two space agencies met in Septemberhave not been able to agree on the cause or the severity of the consequences of these leaks.
Russian engineers believe the cracks may be due to “high cyclic fatigue” caused by microvibrationswhile NASA considers that several factors intervene, such as pressure and the mechanical stresshe residual stresslas material properties of the module and the environmental exposure.
Despite the disagreement, NASA and Roscosmos continue in “close communication” on the subject to solve the leaks. “We have a very open and transparent relationship with our fellow Russian cosmonauts,” says NASA astronaut Michael Barratt.
