166

The transfer tunnel, known by the Russian acronym PrK, connects the Zvezda module with a docking port where Soyuz crew and Progress resupply spacecraft attach to the station.

Air has been leaking from the transfer tunnel since September 2019. On several occasions, Russian cosmonauts have repaired the cracks and temporarily reduced the leak rate. In February, the leak rate jumped up again to 2.4 pounds per day, then increased to 3.7 pounds per day in April.

"The Russian position is that the most probable cause of the PrK cracks is high cyclic fatigue caused by micro-vibrations," Cabana said on November 13. "NASA believes the PrK cracks are likely multi-causal, including pressure and mechanical stress, residual stress, material properties, and environmental exposures."

Crew members aboard the space station are keeping the hatch leading to the PrK closed when they don't need to access the Progress cargo freighter docked at the other end of the transfer tunnel. Russian cosmonauts must open the hatch to unpack supplies from the Progress or load trash into the ship for disposal.

As a precaution, Barratt said space station crews are also closing the hatch separating the US and Russian sections of the space station when cosmonauts are working in the PrK.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 61 points 1 week ago

“The ISS is leaking?? Where?”

“It’s high overhead, orbiting the earth at tremendous speed. But that’s not important right now.”

[-] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 43 points 1 week ago
[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

I just wanted to say good luck, and we're all counting on you.

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago
[-] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Yes, it is a space station, and don't call me Shirley.

[-] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 8 points 1 week ago
[-] ohwhatfollyisman@lemmy.world 46 points 1 week ago

"ISS! More like H-ISS! amirite?!"

[-] taladar@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 week ago

The lack of an H is part of the French contribution to the station.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] midori@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

They just need to get their hands on HRAs to keep the hiss at bay. Where's Dr. Darling??

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] anonymous111@lemmy.world 46 points 1 week ago

Fill the ISS with water and you'll be able to see the leak.

[-] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 70 points 1 week ago

This is probably the dumbest thing I've heard. You clearly have no idea what you're taking about. To find the leak they need to spray the outside with soapy water. If that doesn't work the next step is to put the ISS in a bathtub and fill the bathtub with water

[-] anonymous111@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago

Idiot. You obviously have no idea about the logistics of launching a bath into space. You'd need to send a bucket on a rocket (aero dynamic).

Put the ISS into the bucket, fill with water, then squeeze the ISS and look for bubbles.

[-] GBU_28@lemm.ee 13 points 1 week ago

Fucking fools. Just use a robotic arm to bend the whole suspect section. You'll see the cracks open up as you flex it back and forth, and can spray some flex seal in the cracks. Seriously, try a little bit.

Brainless hemroids! Shmear the conspicuous gelatinous substance from front to back, always from front to back. Freshen & powder, and wrap her back up before she starts spewing like a little lad.

[-] GBU_28@lemm.ee 5 points 1 week ago

Great now there's an 1800's sailor on the space station.

[-] Quadhammer@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

I'm gonna show you ninnies how to really skip this boat

[-] witx 9 points 1 week ago

What a bunch of morons. Just hang some clothes around the ISS and if they wave you've found your leak. No need to send anything because astronauts already have clothes up there ...

[-] SupraMario@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

You all are fools, all this time finding the leak and none of you brought the tire patch

[-] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Clearly you're thinking with your feet, because if you used your brain you'd know you bring the ISS to the bathtub, not the other way around

[-] Morphit@feddit.uk 3 points 1 week ago

Ah, so after the ISS deorbit vehicle dunks it in the South Pacific, we can patch the hole and put it on the ISS reorbit vehicle. Right?

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] gex@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Just cover the exterior with soapy water

[-] Zip2@feddit.uk 31 points 1 week ago

Because there’s a hole in it, stupid.

That’ll be five million dollar bucks for my consultation.

[-] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago

Line-item breakdown:

Fix-a-flat, $5.

Knowing where to squirt, $4,999,995.

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] burgersc12@mander.xyz 4 points 1 week ago

But the hole is on the Russian side and the Russian side is absolutely perfect. No holes here, Comrade, breathing is a luxury some people do not get. Do not become one of those non-breathers Comrade.

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago

The ISS has been leaking air for 5 years, and engineers still don’t know why

*raises hand*

Uh, is it the cold unforgiving vacuum of space that forbids our existence there?

[-] Aermis@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

Space doesn't really have a temperature as you need something to be hot or cold! And in the vacuum there isn't much.

So just unforgiving vacuum.

[-] Croquette@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

My brain just imploded from that realisation and it troubles me.

I can intellectually reconcile what you said, but my reptilian brain cannot comprehend the phenomenon for whatever reason.

I instinctively don't believe that the radiation only is how heat is transferred in the vacuum even though I know that this the case. We always have had 3 (convection, conduction and radiation), and that stumps me.

load more comments (6 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] EleventhHour@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago

Because it’s a slapped-together mess of duct tape and hope?

The ISS is old. It was never meant to last past 2013. At this point, minor malfunctions, like this are expected.

The ISS needs to be replaced with a larger orbital research platform.

[-] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 week ago

The question is how much would it cost to build such? I believe the International Space Station itself cost like $100 billion to build, which is a lot of money. Now, maybe Space Station construction costs have dropped in the like 20 years, or something like that, since then.

[-] brotundspiele@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 week ago

$100 billion sounds a lot, but in comparison it's miniscule. For that amount of money you can either run an international space station for 24 years or the US military for 1.3 months, or the russian military for one year. If we'd just start killing eachother a little less, we could easily save that much money.

[-] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 week ago

I am all for killing less people and funding space stations. That's for sure.

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] brlemworld@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

No it needs to be expanded so that it can house thousands of different species.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago

Someone needs to close the damn window, we aren't paying to heat the entire universe

[-] UraniumBlazer@lemm.ee 14 points 1 week ago

It's the I-SSsssssssssssssssssss

[-] rtxn@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

Have they tried lighting a match and following the smoke?

[-] Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 week ago

Hot box the ISS! We need to train stoners to be astronauts so the can come save the day!

[-] SHOW_ME_YOUR_ASSHOLE@lemm.ee 3 points 1 week ago

Cheesy Aerosmith music intensifies

[-] arandomthought@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 week ago

Question: When Air leaks from the ISS, does it just orbit with it indefinitely as an "air bubble" or maybe a dispersed "air cloud" around it or will it eventually settle down into the atmosphere?

[-] thepreciousboar@lemm.ee 21 points 1 week ago

In a vacuum, gas will expand indefinitely, so they probably become stray atoms of gas, that will orbit for a little, ocassionallt hitting each other and probably eventually falling back in the atmosphere.

[-] RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 week ago

It'd be freakier if it was taking on air.

[-] Etterra@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

NASA: None of our engineerscan solve this problem.

HVAC guy: Hmm, can't use soap bubbles in space... maybe if they use some smoke to make the leak visible....

[-] Madison420@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Hilariously water with dye is almost certainly how they're detecting the leaks position since most of the fun tracer gases are oxygen replacers or straight up toxic.

[-] nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

The only reason to use gases for this on earth is because liquids are too heavy to be sucked towards to small leaks. In space, isn't there a case to be made to use some small light solids? Not styrofoam because theyre staticky. But if you found something of equivalent density that would float towards the leaks, but didn't pick up static and could easily be cleaned out of the air filters...it would be useful for this.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Seeders@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Doesn't that throw off the trajectory over time?

[-] 7toed@midwest.social 5 points 1 week ago

Negligibly, they already lose significant enough altitude from the rare atmosphere up there to need to do boosts, but yes if it is a net force

[-] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 3 points 1 week ago

That's going to need a lot of flex tape.

[-] Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

Probably installed an airopen instead of an airlock.

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2024
166 points (98.3% liked)

Spaceflight

653 readers
34 users here now

Your one-stop shop for spaceflight news and discussion.

All serious posts related to spaceflight are welcome! JAXA, ISRO, CNSA, Roscosmos, ULA, RocketLab, Firefly, Relativity, Blue Origin, etc. (Arca and Pythom, if you must).

Other related space communities:

Related meme community:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS