The International Space Station, which will operate until 2030, is getting old. This is accompanied by age-related technical problems. A NASA report now warns of 50 ‘problem areas’ and four cracks in the station, which pose a risk to the crew.
Astronauts have been aboard humanity’s outpost in space for almost a quarter of a century now. As the ISS ages, the American space agency NASA faces the challenge of ensuring the safety of the crews on board and continuing operations.
“Major safety risk” for astronauts
According to a recently released report from NASA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), a leak in the Russian portion of the ISS, known since 2019, has identified a “major safety risk” to the astronauts on board.
The cracks were covered with a “combination of sealants and plasters” by Roscosmos – the Russian equivalent of NASA – the US space agency said in a statement to the Washington Post, and repairs were underway. In the internal risk assessment, the leaking areas pose the highest risk with a rating of 5 on a scale of 5, the OIG report said.
Leaking at a hatch
“We have communicated the seriousness of the leaks several times, including when I was in Russia earlier this year,” Deputy Director Jim Free said in an interview with The Washington Post. Because the leaks are located near a hatch, Roscosmos complied with a request from NASA to close the hatch as much as possible, Free said.
Series of leaks on Russian modules
In recent years, leaks of Russian hardware have repeatedly caused problems on the ISS. A dramatic incident occurred in December 2022 when a Soyuz capsule (pictured below) began rapidly leaking coolant into space ahead of a planned Russian spacewalk, which was subsequently immediately canceled. With few other options, the Russian space agency Roscosmos sent an empty Soyuz capsule to the ISS and returned the leaking spacecraft empty to Earth for analysis.
In February last year, the Russian space freighter ‘Progress 82’ suffered an ammonia leak while docked with the space station. Seven months later, another leak was discovered, this time in the Russian multi-function laboratory module “Nauka”.
The space station is expected to be operational until 2030
Construction of the ISS in space began in 1998. Japan, Canada, the US and participating countries of the European Space Agency (ESA) want to operate the space station by 2030. The all-important partner in space, Russia, has so far only committed until 2028, but is open to continued exploitation until 2030.
Source: Krone
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