Soyuz leak
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Soyuz capsule leak could strand 3 astronauts
Footage of the spectacular coolant leak from the Russian Soyuz spaceship that took place on Wednesday (Dec. 14) convinced a leading spaceflight safety expert that the craft is most likely no longer flightworthy. And that is a huge safety risk for the inhabitants of the International Space Station.
Tommaso Sgobba is the president of the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS) and a former head of spaceflight safety at the European Space Agency (ESA). Now formally retired, the veteran aerospace engineer who worked for years on Europe's human spaceflight program spoke to Space.com about the Soyuz coolant leak. His conclusions are rather damning. The Soyuz spacecraft, Sgobba believes, is "damaged beyond repair" and will not be able to take the three space travelers it brought to the space station in September back home.
What is worse, for the first time in its history, the International Space Station (ISS) lacks the capability to evacuate all of its occupants in case of a serious incident.
"From what I saw from the pictures, this was a massive loss of coolant," Sgobba told Space.com. "I have to assume that the active coolant system of the Soyuz spacecraft was compromised and therefore, the Soyuz is no longer available for operation. It's my personal feeling, but if it's true, we have a big problem on the space station. We are missing the crew escape system."
Link to videoWhen it comes to the cause of the incident, Sgobba is inclined to believe that the tank may have been hit by a larger piece of space debris, although a valve malfunction is also possible.
"The leak was very massive, but of course, it could be a leaking fuel port or something like that," Sgobba said. "But because the [space debris] environment is what it is, I can imagine that it may have been some sort of a larger object. Not a micrometeorite, because the spacecraft should be designed to withstand impact by small objects."
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https://gizmodo.com/iss-coolant-leak-hole-soyus-spacecraft-russia-1849910293
An inspection has revealed an 0.8-millimeter-wide hole in the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft that sprung a coolant leak outside the International Space Station last week. Russian space agency Roscosmos will make a decision on the flight-worthiness of the spacecraft later this month, at which time Russia may choose to expedite the launch of a replacement capsule.
The hole is located on the ship’s instrumentation compartment on the Soyuz service module, according to Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov and as reported by state-run TASS news agency. “The primary guidance, navigation, control and computer systems of the Soyuz are in the instrumentation compartment, which is a sealed container filled with circulating nitrogen gas to cool the avionics equipment,” NASA says.
The Soyuz MS-22 sprung a leak on December 15, sending streams of coolant into space and canceling a Russian spacewalk. NASA and Roscosmos have both stated that the incident poses no risk to the crew or the orbiting space station. A preliminary inspection with a robotic arm confirmed the leak shortly after it began on Thursday, with a follow-up inspection, performed earlier today, now confirming the hole, which may have been caused by a micrometeorite or a tiny piece of space junk.
Today’s inspection “revealed that there is a tiny hole” in the instrumentation compartment “measuring about 0.8mm, which caused the leak,” Borisov said Monday, describing the ongoing situation as “not very pleasant.” The Russian space agency has set a deadline of December 27 to determine the status and fate of the damaged Soyuz spacecraft. Two working groups will decide whether the spacecraft can host passengers and return to the surface or if it needs to be junked.
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https://gizmodo.com/iss-coolant-leak-hole-soyus-spacecraft-russia-1849910293
An inspection has revealed an 0.8-millimeter-wide hole in the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft that sprung a coolant leak outside the International Space Station last week. Russian space agency Roscosmos will make a decision on the flight-worthiness of the spacecraft later this month, at which time Russia may choose to expedite the launch of a replacement capsule.
The hole is located on the ship’s instrumentation compartment on the Soyuz service module, according to Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov and as reported by state-run TASS news agency. “The primary guidance, navigation, control and computer systems of the Soyuz are in the instrumentation compartment, which is a sealed container filled with circulating nitrogen gas to cool the avionics equipment,” NASA says.
The Soyuz MS-22 sprung a leak on December 15, sending streams of coolant into space and canceling a Russian spacewalk. NASA and Roscosmos have both stated that the incident poses no risk to the crew or the orbiting space station. A preliminary inspection with a robotic arm confirmed the leak shortly after it began on Thursday, with a follow-up inspection, performed earlier today, now confirming the hole, which may have been caused by a micrometeorite or a tiny piece of space junk.
Today’s inspection “revealed that there is a tiny hole” in the instrumentation compartment “measuring about 0.8mm, which caused the leak,” Borisov said Monday, describing the ongoing situation as “not very pleasant.” The Russian space agency has set a deadline of December 27 to determine the status and fate of the damaged Soyuz spacecraft. Two working groups will decide whether the spacecraft can host passengers and return to the surface or if it needs to be junked.
@George-K said in Soyuz leak:
the instrumentation compartment, which is a sealed container filled with circulating nitrogen gas to cool the avionics equipment,
Apparently, nitrogen gas is the coolant
That video looks like a liquid, is that what nitrogen gas looks like when it leaks into the vacuum?
Strange
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A second Russian spacecraft docked at the ISS is leaking coolant
On Saturday morning, Russia’s Roscosmos space agency disclosed on Telegram that a Progress cargo ship docked with the ISS had lost cabin pressure. NASA later said the depressurization was due to a coolant leak.
“The reason for the loss of coolant in the Progress 82 spacecraft is being investigated,” NASA announced. “The hatches between Progress 82 and the station are open, and temperatures and pressures aboard the station are all normal. The crew, which was informed of the cooling loop leak, is in no danger and continuing with normal space station operations.”
Per Space.com, Progress 82 arrived at the ISS on October 28th. Before Saturday's announcement, the spacecraft was scheduled to leave the station on February 17th. It’s unclear if Roscosmos will move forward with that timeline as originally planned. Russia’s Progress spacecraft are designed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere after they complete their resupply missions, meaning there’s no way for Roscosmos to investigate the leak on the ground. The timing of the discovery comes on the same day that a second Progress spacecraft docked with the ISS, and less than two months after another Russian spacecraft sprung a leak at the space station.
In December, Russia’s Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft began leaking coolant just as cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin and Sergey Prokopyev were preparing for a nearly seven-hour spacewalk. Roscosmos later blamed the incident on an apparent meteoroid strike. Unless there’s an emergency at the ISS, Roscosmos has deemed the spacecraft unfit to transport humans. The agency will launch another Soyuz craft later this month to bring Petelin and Prokopyev, as well as NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, back to Earth.
Ars Technica’s Eric Berger points out, the Progress incident raises doubts about whether Soyuz MS-22 was actually hit by a micrometeorite. Russia never released images of the impact, and the country’s space program has a history of recent issues. In 2021, for instance, Roscosmos blamed a software bug on the Nauka misfiring that temporarily moved the ISS out of its usual orientation.
Space is hard.
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A second Russian spacecraft docked at the ISS is leaking coolant
On Saturday morning, Russia’s Roscosmos space agency disclosed on Telegram that a Progress cargo ship docked with the ISS had lost cabin pressure. NASA later said the depressurization was due to a coolant leak.
“The reason for the loss of coolant in the Progress 82 spacecraft is being investigated,” NASA announced. “The hatches between Progress 82 and the station are open, and temperatures and pressures aboard the station are all normal. The crew, which was informed of the cooling loop leak, is in no danger and continuing with normal space station operations.”
Per Space.com, Progress 82 arrived at the ISS on October 28th. Before Saturday's announcement, the spacecraft was scheduled to leave the station on February 17th. It’s unclear if Roscosmos will move forward with that timeline as originally planned. Russia’s Progress spacecraft are designed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere after they complete their resupply missions, meaning there’s no way for Roscosmos to investigate the leak on the ground. The timing of the discovery comes on the same day that a second Progress spacecraft docked with the ISS, and less than two months after another Russian spacecraft sprung a leak at the space station.
In December, Russia’s Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft began leaking coolant just as cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin and Sergey Prokopyev were preparing for a nearly seven-hour spacewalk. Roscosmos later blamed the incident on an apparent meteoroid strike. Unless there’s an emergency at the ISS, Roscosmos has deemed the spacecraft unfit to transport humans. The agency will launch another Soyuz craft later this month to bring Petelin and Prokopyev, as well as NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, back to Earth.
Ars Technica’s Eric Berger points out, the Progress incident raises doubts about whether Soyuz MS-22 was actually hit by a micrometeorite. Russia never released images of the impact, and the country’s space program has a history of recent issues. In 2021, for instance, Roscosmos blamed a software bug on the Nauka misfiring that temporarily moved the ISS out of its usual orientation.
Space is hard.
@George-K said in Soyuz leak:
the Progress incident raises doubts about whether Soyuz MS-22 was actually hit by a micrometeorite.
I checked to see if any of the current inhabitants were born in Chicago, I was thinking they might have a handgun for personal protection.
But all 3 Americans currently on the Station were born in California, unlikely to have guns.
I guess the Russians might get drunk on a Saturday night and start shooting.
