The International Space Station is no spring chicken, and it’s starting to show its age as an unsolved hole continues to leak air.
Launched in 1998, the International Space Station was only intended to orbit for 15 years. However, due to it surpassing expectations, this was extended. The planned decommission was moved to 2024, with all testing to be finished. But, yet another extension was added, and now it will be around Earth until 2030, if everything goes to plan.
But the significant extension of the ISS mission hasn’t come without its challenges. There were, of course, the two astronauts who became stranded on the space laboratory. There have also been a number of situations in which the space station began leaking air. The latest has caused a delay in the most recent mission by SpaceX.
These air leaks have been a persistent problem on the International Space Station since 2019. They have been caused by the deteriorating aluminium on the vessel. They are very hard to identify and require whole sections to be sealed.
The leaking air is a problem, as there are very few ways to replenish the escaped gas. This causes a change in pressure on the ISS and results in decompression sickness in the astronauts, and can even result in unconsciousness.
Latest Air Leak On ISS Under Control
The leaking air was found to be coming from the Russian segment of the International Space Station in the Zvezda service module. NASA released a statement regarding the situation. “Cosmonauts aboard the space station recently performed inspections of the pressurized module’s interior surfaces, sealed some additional areas of interest, and measured the current leak rate. Following this effort, the segment is now holding pressure.”
They have been struggling to identify the location of the leaking air for some time. As it progressed, the volume of air lost was increasing day by day. According to reports, it became severe before the recent developments, maxing out at 1.7 kilograms (3.7 pounds) per day.
The launch of Ax-4, the next Falcon 9 Rocket from SpaceX, is now scheduled for June 19th. However, I certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable aboard one with their current hat trick of explosive failures.