US astronaut Chris Cassidy, Russian cosmonauts Ivan Vagner and Anatoly Ivanishin are the three members of Expedition 63 currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS). For the duration of this weekend, they will be confined in the Russian Zvezda service module of the ISS.
This measurement is part of a test to determine the source of an air leak. Noticed in September 2019 and described as very small, it seems to have increased slightly since. In the immediate future, it does not represent any danger for the crew or the space station.
Along with routine station operations, spacewalks, arrivals and departures of spacecraft, activity has been intense lately to say the least and this has made it difficult to collect enough relevant data. Things calm down a bit and this is an opportunity to determine the precise origin of the leak.
The US space agency points out that nitrogen tanks fed during refueling missions can help maintain adequate pressurization of the station whenever air escapes.
Over the weekend, the game on the ground will be to carefully monitor the pressurization of each module on the International Space Station. ” The test should determine which module has a higher than normal leak rate. NASA adds that on both the US and Russian side, preliminary results should be available for review by the end of next week.
Such concerns for the ISS are not uncommon. We will remember that a small oxygen leak in 2018 was particularly talked about. It was due to a 2 mm diameter hole located in the upper part of a docked Soyuz vessel.
This leak had given rise to some conspiracy theories and two cosmonauts had even carried out a spacewalk for an inspection from the outside. Russian space agency Roscosmos claimed to have discovered the causes of this hole, but without sharing its information …
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