The issue of leakage in the International Space Station (ISS) is still ongoing, with NASA and Russia currently identifying 50 “areas of concern” and four cracks.
The incident involving the backup cooling system leak has been occurring since 2019 in the Russian segment of the ISS and is the focus of a new report from NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) published in September.
According to NASA officials, speaking to the Washington Post, they are monitoring four cracks and 50 “areas of concern” on the ISS. The cracks “have all been covered by Roscosmos with a mixture of adhesive and patches,” NASA noted, and repairs are still underway. However, the leak area poses the highest risk, rated at 5 out of 5 in NASA’s internal risk assessments.
International Space Station.
NASA astronauts are also staying in the U.S. orbital complex to be closer to their escape vehicles in case an evacuation is necessary. However, NASA has repeatedly emphasized that the leak does not pose any direct threat to the astronauts.
The leak has been ongoing for five years, and patches have been applied since it was first detected. Agency officials noted that repair work has reduced the significant leakage observed to about one-third.
The ISS is expected to remain operational until 2030 to meet NASA personnel needs and to provide for commercial low Earth orbit research.
SpaceX has been tasked with constructing a larger Dragon spacecraft to deorbit the ISS, according to a contract with NASA earlier this year. The OIG stated it will further investigate the schedule, costs, and risks associated with the new vehicle and its deorbiting plan.
The ISS is an international assembly of seven modules, measuring 109 meters in length, operating in low Earth orbit. The space station includes a 460-ton heavy platform with a permanent crew, orbiting at an altitude of over 400 kilometers from Earth. It is four times larger than Russia’s Mir space station and five times larger than America’s Skylab.
Construction of the ISS began in 1998 and continued until its completion in 2011, involving NASA, the Russian space agency Roscosmos, the European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency.
At the time the station was planned, NASA and its initial partners expected to operate the ISS for 15 years. However, the operational life of the station has extended beyond initial expectations, and to date, it continues to be used as a site for scientific research.
To date, the space station remains the largest achievement of global cooperative efforts, with 273 people from 21 countries having visited the laboratory aboard the station, contributing to thousands of research projects that advance human development.
NASA recently announced that the International Space Station (ISS), which has been in orbit for 25 years, will officially cease operations in 2031 and will be deorbited to Point Nemo.
Located south of Easter Island and north of Antarctica, Point Nemo is also known as “the loneliest place on Earth,” “the inaccessible pole.” It is so remote that it takes several days to traverse 2,700 km of ocean to reach the nearest land.
The ocean at Point Nemo is over 4,000 meters deep. Its name is derived from the famous Captain Nemo from the classic work “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” by French author Jules Verne.
Since the 1970s, global space programs have sent nearly 300 decommissioned spacecraft, including space stations and satellites, into the ocean at Point Nemo.
