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.
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?
Because there’s a hole in it, stupid.
That’ll be five million dollar bucks for my consultation.
Fill the ISS with water and you’ll be able to see the leak.
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
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.
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
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 …
You all are fools, all this time finding the leak and none of you brought the tire patch
“The ISS is leaking?? Where?”
“It’s high overhead, orbiting the earth at tremendous speed. But that’s not important right now.”
Airplane?
No, space station
Surely?
I just wanted to say good luck, and we’re all counting on you.
Airplane!
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?
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.
“ISS! More like H-ISS! amirite?!”
The lack of an H is part of the French contribution to the station.
They just need to get their hands on HRAs to keep the hiss at bay. Where’s Dr. Darling??
Someone needs to close the damn window, we aren’t paying to heat the entire universe
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.
The ISS is modular
It needs a new module. Undo the tinker toys and put them back together.
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.
$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.
I would assume inflation made the number bigger today even if costs have dropped.
Have they tried lighting a match and following the smoke?
Hot box the ISS! We need to train stoners to be astronauts so the can come save the day!
That’s going to need a lot of flex tape.
