Roscosmos
NASA astronaut Jasmine Moghbeli looked out the large window of the International Space Station on Monday afternoon and saw snow falling in space.
Well, it’s not actually snowing. But there were flakes flying in what looked like a storm. They emanated from one of the two radiators serving the “Nauka” science module installed on the Russian part of the space station. The flakes were frozen coolant, and as a precaution, she and the rest of her orbiting lab’s crew shuttered the windows of the U.S. segment.
Although Moghbeli and the other crew members were not in any real danger from the leaking radiator, the problem raises serious concerns about the survivability of Russian hardware in space. This is the third such breach involving Russian equipment within the past year.
It’s not clear what this means, but let’s start with what we know about the three leaks and then discuss what this all means for the future of the International Space Station.
coolant everywhere
The problems with the radiator leaking started about 10 months ago.
On December 14, 2022, two astronauts were preparing to perform an extravehicular activity outside the space station when a loss of control occurred from the external cooling loop from the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, which was docked nearby. A leak started to occur. The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft was scheduled to return cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitri Peterin, as well as NASA’s Frank Rubio, to Earth in March. A replacement vehicle had to be sent to take them home, and it landed safely last month.
Additionally, on February 11, 2023, the Progress MS-21 supply ship aboard the International Space Station lost pressure in its external cooling system. Once again, all the coolant onboard a Russian spacecraft exploded and leaked into space. The spacecraft had been docked at the ISS since October, but then separated and returned to the atmosphere without incident.
In response to these problems, Russian authorities claimed that both cooling system leaks were due to “external impacts,” citing micrometeorites and small pieces of orbital debris as the cause. While some NASA officials have privately questioned whether these leaks were really caused by impacts in space rather than technical defects in the hardware, the US space agency has publicly confirmed that I agreed with the explanation.
But then Monday’s incident happened.
Backup radiator starts leaking
Although the United States and Russia each maintain their own parts of the space station, they share a common power source and propulsion. In 2010, Russian cosmonauts installed radiators in the segment in preparation for the module to conduct scientific experiments. This “Nauka” module finally arrived in 2021, and although there were some problems at first, it started working fine.
The Nauka module has its own radiator.according to Interview conducted in August The purpose of this backup radiator, along with senior Russian space official Sergei Krikalev, was to dissipate excess heat during scientific experiments.
however, Update posted on Tuesday Russian space company Roscosmos said on the social media network Telegram that no scientific experiments have been postponed so far due to the coolant leak. According to the astronauts, the temperature was comfortable today and they were able to exercise on the treadmill inside the module.
confirmed by NASA in a blog post The leak does not appear to have any significant impact on the crew or the space station.
aging space station
The impact of this leak will become clearer over time, but the overall trend is not positive. His two coolant leaks from external impacts have already heightened distrust, but NASA has not observed such debilitating damage to the hardware in recent years. Will Russia claim that the third leak was also caused by an outside force?
The coolant used by the Russians is quite toxic, so there are also concerns about contamination, as this substance affects various parts of the space station.
In the long run, there are also some issues highlighted by the latest breaches. One is that quality control of Russian space-related hardware has deteriorated in recent years. This is at least partly due to the country’s lack of investment in its space workforce and ground facilities. This was probably the cause of one or more leaks. Another problem is that the International Space Station is aging and certain elements have been in space for nearly 25 years. NASA wants to keep the space station flying until 2030, but will it and its partners be able to do so?
More information should be available soon. A lengthy meeting is scheduled for later today between NASA, Roscosmos and other international partners where the issue will be discussed.
