Small Leak Discovered on Russian Side of International Space Station, NASA Says (go.com) 109
A small pressure leak was discovered on the International Space Station, according to NASA. From a report: Flight controllers at mission control centers in Houston and Moscow began seeing signs of the leak Wednesday night when the six-member crew aboard the orbital outpost were asleep. Flight controllers monitored the situation until the crew awakened at their normal time Thursday morning "since they were in no danger," NASA said in a media release. Crew members then conducted "extensive checks" to determine the location of the leak, which appears to be on the Russian side of the space station. They initially slowed the leak with Kapton tape and are working on a more comprehensive repair, according to NASA. "Program officials and flight controllers are continuing to monitor the situation as the crew works through its troubleshooting procedures," NASA said.
Finally (Score:3, Funny)
I knew you people were wrong about Russian leaks. Look, here's proof!!!
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I knew you people were wrong about Russian leaks. Look, here's proof!!!
When life gives you Russian leeks, buy some potatoes and make leek and potato soup.
Working on a more comprehensive repair (Score:4, Funny)
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I assume you're being sarcastic, but what makes you think it wouldn't work well in zero G?
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Nonsense - send up the pros (Score:2)
These guys claim they can fix a leak in a creek: http://lewisandsonroofing-hsv.... [lewisandso...ng-hsv.com]
Re:Working on a more comprehensive repair (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Working on a more comprehensive repair (Score:4, Interesting)
A leak should, by applying a minute thrust to the station, cause it to spin. Observe the degree of spin carefully to determine the location of the leak. Reaction wheels or thruster self-corrrects would have to be turned off while this test is in progress.
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How does that tell you which end the leak is at? Or how big it is?
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You would be amazed at what NASA can figure out from small measures of thrust.
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You would be amazed at what NASA can figure out from small measures of thrust.
That's what the wife always says.
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Good luck, Mr. Gorsky!
spasibo!
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There may be more leaks. Someone needs to go outside and brush soapy water over the whole station.
Well played sir! Love it.
billy mays here for space seal!! (Score:2)
billy mays here for space seal!!
Re:Working on a more comprehensive repair (Score:5, Funny)
Re: Working on a more comprehensive repair (Score:3)
Proof that most of life's problems can be solved with duct tape or WD-40.
https://thursdayagain.wordpres... [wordpress.com]
Re: Working on a more comprehensive repair (Score:4, Funny)
If duct tape doesn't fix your problem then you are not using enough duct tape.
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It's like The Force: it has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the Universe together.
[an old joke; don't remember where it comes from]
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They initially slowed the leak with Kapton tape and are working on a more comprehensive repair [flexsealproducts.com], according to NASA
Time to break out the box of bubblegum user-applied flexible sealant material and cover the fracture.
More seriously, if there's a crack, a fuller repair would likely involve evacuating the segment, then drilling a small hole at each end of the fracture to keep it from propagating before injecting a flexible resin sealant.
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Spotted the Safelite Auto Glass rep!
detach, and give it back to russia (Score:2)
A now since the russian segment is detached, we dont
need any russians visiting the USA space station.
Adios Comrade, how very convenient.
Re: Working on a more comprehensive repair (Score:5, Funny)
When I was in college I JB welded a quarter to the sidewalk and watched people try to pick it up and kick it loose for weeks until one day it was gone along with a chunk of concrete.
NASA Link to the story (Score:5, Informative)
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacest... [nasa.gov]
The link is in a Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft that docked with the ISS on June 6th and brought up Sergey Prokopyev, Alexander Gerst and Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor.
I will be interested in hearing what the "more comprehensive long-term repair" will be as I presume the spacecraft will be returning to earth at some point with the astronauts and since the leak is located in a part of the spacecraft that does not return to Earth (I'm guessing it burns up in the atmosphere) then I can't imagine anything more than keeping the opening from propagating will be required.
It will be interesting to hear what is the source of the leak - it is apparently 2mm in diameter and I'm wondering if this would be a meteorite or a piece of space debris.
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It will be interesting to hear what is the source of the leak - it is apparently 2mm in diameter and I'm wondering if this would be a meteorite or a piece of space debris.
Interesting. To me, an earthling and not a spaceman, that seems like a rather large hole given the pressure differentials. I'm surprised that it didn't lead to an immediate alert - how would they know it was a hole that would stay a hole, and not say a crack that could suddenly widen? I'm sure they know what they're doing, quite well, but I'd like to read more about this and how they reached the conclusion that it was safe to let them sleep.
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A 2mm hole would leak about 0.001 m^2 of air a second, assuming that the air leaks at mach 1. So, certainly noticeable to detectors, but with the total volume of the ISS it's not that much, unless you let it run for hours and hours.
Read my post again. What I wondered about wasn't air loss through the hole, but how they would know it was a condition that would not suddenly worsen.
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Re:NASA Link to the story (Score:4, Informative)
The Soyuz has 3 sections: orbital module, descent module, and service module.
After undocking the Soyuz will fire its engines to deorbit. Before re-entry, both the orbital module and service module will be jettisoned and will burn up on re-entry. The descent module survives re-entry and parachutes to a landing.
The orbital module and descent module are both pressurised. The article's wording might be considered to be wrong since it could be argued that even the 2 modules that burn up actually return to earth. Based on the article and design of the Soyuz, they are implying the leak is on the orbital module.
So, the problem will be solved when the Soyuz undocks.
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So, the problem will be solved when the Soyuz undocks.
Perhaps.... given the stakes involved; I wonder why (even while docked) the Soyuz pressurized environment wouldn't be kept ordinarily separated from the station's pressurized environment to minimize potential for a catastrophic leak from one craft affecting the entire station's, especially while they are sleeping on station...
Re: NASA Link to the story (Score:1)
They serve the secondary purpose of acting as lifeboats in an emergency. It's for easier egress.
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It will be interesting to hear what is the source of the leak
This would be literally another means of detecting: listen for a faint whistle.
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Small leaks like this typically cause an ulrasonic whistle, which is very directional. Easily detected with proper equipment.
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And as every organist knows, the frequency would be a function of the hole size. If your detector hears a chord, it's bad news.
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2mm is below the size being tracked right now afaik, and crack would be larger than object that hit in most cases, so some kind of a small piece of space debris sounds like a plausible hypothesis.
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More from the story:
>Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin, the head of Russia's state space corporation, Roscosmos, said the issue was an air leak due to a tiny fracture on the Russian manned Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft, which docked at the International Space Station in early June.
>"A micro-fracture was found. Most likely this is external damage. Designers believe this is the result of a micro-meteorite," Rogozin told reporters Thursday, according to state-run Russian news agency TASS. "The lives and the health of th
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This is what happens when someone doesn't read the sign "Caution, Do not nail personal photos to the walls, use tape".
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Q: How big is the leak?
A: About 1 cubic meter lost atmosphere per hour
(some murmuring)
Q: Are you telling us absolutely everything?
A: No. We're also out of coffee.
*panic ensues* [youtube.com]
Re: Flex Seal Spray (Score:3)
Outgassing might be a concern. Even if not directly harmful, it could stink up the place for a REALLY long time.
Hmmm. (Score:5, Funny)
Somehow, this comes to mind (Score:2)
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But they can smell it..forever...
Don't worry (Score:2)
Comrade Putin has already announced his plan to repair the station. At this very moment he is taking time away from his hiking vacation to find suitably-sized rocks - once he has a good one, he will throw it up to the station with such strength and accuracy that the rock will seal the leak!
Re:Don't worry (Score:5, Funny)
Comrade Putin has already announced his plan to repair the station. At this very moment he is taking time away from his hiking vacation to find suitably-sized rocks - once he has a good one, he will throw it up to the station with such strength and accuracy that the rock will seal the leak!
If Putin were to fix the leak, he would do it right. He'd be out there doing an EVA shirtless patching it himself.
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Let's be realistic, he can't do an EVA shirtless. He'd use a spacesuit with a transparent upper section.
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Let's be realistic, he can't do an EVA shirtless. He'd use a spacesuit with a transparent upper section.
It's Putin. If anyone can pull off a shirtless EVA, he would. Putin is the Chuck Norris of shirtlessness.
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Let's be realistic, he can't do an EVA shirtless. He'd use a spacesuit with a transparent upper section.
It's Putin. If anyone can pull off a shirtless EVA, he would. Putin is the Chuck Norris of shirtlessness.
Putin would use Chuck Norris to plug the leak. And then the ISS would explode because it could not withstand the presence of his sheer awesomeness.
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dejavu (Score:1)
Oops
How long... (Score:3)
... before Trump denies this Russian Leak?
In the UK, Trump is slang for a noise fart, what yanks call passing gas. So many memic possibilities
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And that perfectly characterizes what has become of that nation of scientists and philosophers: a nation of tabloid-obsessed geezers making fart jokes about foreign leaders.
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Trump has been slang for a frt for a very long time. And the president is a living fart joke anyway.
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Well, your comment just says something about yourself.
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That I have a sense of decorum, for example.
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Yeah, and it also tells us just what your "sense of decorum" is.
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It wouldn't even need to be strong enough to hold indefinitely. If it could be designed to seal the leak and trigger a warning, it could be properly repaired later on while keeping valuable air from leaking out.
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I suppose it is possible, but I also think that it isn't worth the weight, cost and complexity.
A small leak like that doesn't look like a big deal, they didn't even wake the crew up.
Fixing small problems like that is a good reason why there are humans on board. Humans are very versatile, especially when equipped with duct tape.
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oh you know a magic tire sealant that works in the temperature ranges the outside of the ISS encounters? that's about 130 deg C to -160 deg C by the way.
There is no such magic material.
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big difference between a gasket and a liquid sealant that would flow into a hole in the temperature extremes of space.
god the level of technical ignorance in a supposed tech forum is astounding
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That sounds really light and economical.
Were you born in a barn? (Score:2)
It's just a golden shower (Score:2)
Nothing to see here.
In space, they can only hear you ....
Send in the SPACE FORCE!!! (Score:3)
Someone had to say it (Score:3)
didn't wake them up? (Score:1)
Salyut 7 (Score:2)
Russia will get it fixed.
Hmmm (Score:2)
The image posted with the original article was clearly NOT a drilled hole. You can see it here. The image I see on some sites today is not the same hole.
https://tecake.com/news/scienc... [tecake.com]