More cracks found in Russian annex of the International Space Station
- Reference: 1630451382
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/08/31/international_space_station_cracks/
- Source link:
There's no word yet if these fissures in the Zarya module have caused, or will cause, any air leaks, though there is a concern they could widen.
“Several such places with non-perforating cracks were found in the Zarya module," Vladimir Solovyov, head of the Russian segment of the space station and a former cosmonaut, [1]told the state-run news agency RIA Novosti this week.
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"This is bad and suggests that the fissures will begin to spread over time."
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Funded by the US and built by Russia over four years, Zarya was the first module launched for the space station. It lifted off in 1998, and was connected to the American Unity module that year to begin assembling the orbiting lab. In those early days, Zarya provided power and propulsion, and now is predominantly used for storage.
These latest cracks spell more bad news for Roscosmos. A small, non-life-threatening leak detected in 2019 was traced to a transfer chamber in its main Zvezda module, which was temporarily [5]patched in October 2020 and repaired in March this year.
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One or two other [7]small leaks were subsequently detected, and it wasn't clear at the time where on the station they were. Last month, a drop in air pressure was detected in the Zvezda module due to a leak.
Now, there are apparently more cracks elsewhere in the Russian segment of the ISS for the crew to deal with. It's safe to say the station generally leaks a small amount of air all the time, which the crew compensates for.
“The cosmonauts covered the transition chamber of the Zvezda module twice, applied two kilograms of hermetal along all the seams, along the cracks – but the leak continues anyway,” Solovyov [8]said in an interview with RIA Novosti. He said the chamber must remain closed to prevent air escaping.
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Eventually these holes won’t be worth fixing anyway as the hardware components on the aged Zvezda section, which docked with the ISS 21 years ago, will be past their manufacturers' warranty period, he said. Instead, Solovyov believes Russia needs to start over and build its own space station. He is [10]not alone in that thinking.
[11]ISS air leakage fixed in time for crew handover, thanks to floating teabag
[12]Space station update: Mystery tiny but growing air leak sparks search for hole
[13]There may be not one but two new air leaks in International Space Station: Russian boss tells us not to panic
[14]Mars race: China dreams of nuclear rockets, manned bases, and space elevators
”We have been warning for many years that it is time to think about a new orbital station," he [15]said . "Funds have been allocated to ensure the operation of the station until 2025, but after 2025, we will be full of seams. This mainly concerns the tightness of the case and complex computing facilities that have exhausted their resource[s].”
Roscosmos has updated some of its hardware on the ISS: the [16]Nauka module docked on July 29, and the hunk of metal, with a mass of 20,000 kilograms, made quite an entrance. Just three hours after it was attached to the science lab, its engines began unexpectedly firing, causing the ISS to spin one-and-a-half times before mission control corrected its position. ®
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[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/22/russia_iss_2025/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/22/space_in_brief/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/21/space_station_air_leak_search/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/23/oh_dear_there_may_be/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/25/china_mars_plans/
[15] https://ria.ru/20210830/mks-1747775014.html
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/03/iss_thruster_spin/
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Is it time to disconnect?
Separate the ISS into module clusters according to the nation that supplied them & send those modules along parallel orbital tracks. Close enough to communicate via laser link, near enough to send a rescue crew, but independant such that the defects in any one nation's modules will only affect that nation's cluster. They can conduct their own experiments, do their own research, collaborating via laser link on the bits that they want & remaining silent on the stuff they don't want to discuss, and since the entire cluster is entirely their own, they can tighten the security to whatever they want & it only applies to themselves. If Russia sends up another decades old module that "accidentally" misfunctions to spin their cluster like a pinwheeling cartwheel, the only astronaughts in danger of tossing their cookies are the Russians. If the Russians don't feel that multi year air leaks are enough of a concern to fix rather than merely keep patching, then the only astronauts to need to livin constant fear of explosive depressurization is the Russians. If the Chinese want to use nothing but Chinese sourced communications gear while the United States shuns all China-produced equipment, then let them do so. The "international" nature of the ISS has long been a bad joke. The Russians provide the rockets to get everything up there; the Chinese provide the tech to use once it's up there; and America has to deal with all the headaches of such a designed-by-commission flustercluck. Is it time to disconnect the modules into nation clusters & split the ISS into single nation units?
Re: Is it time to disconnect?
No.
Isn't it great that collaboration in space works, or at least worked for a while?
And that is without mentioning that no single nation section would be worth maintaining, if it was habitable at all, defeating the whole purpose of the thing completely...
Good grief, couldn't we do with less stupid nationalistic willy waving?
"applied two kilograms of hermetal along all the seams"
I used metal putty on my domestic hot water tank ten years ago and I can report it works great.
I won't leave earth without packing some!