SCI The International Space Station is leaking Air and NASA has been unable to find out why.

[Melodi]

The International Space Station is leaking – and Nasa doesn’t know why

Nasa has been searching for the source of the leak for weeks.

www.independent.co.uk

The International Space Station is leaking Air - and NASA has been unable to find out why.
Nasa has been searching for the source of the leak for weeks.

Adam Smith@adamndsmith
1 hour ago


Nasa is still unable to find the source of a leak that is letting air out of the International Space Station.
At a briefing on 28 September about the upcoming Northrop Grumman NG-14 Cygnus cargo mission, Nasa said that its investigation into the leak continues.
It has already been searching for the cause of the leak for several weeks.

“As of this morning, there was no clear indication of where the leak is,” said Greg Dorth, manager of the ISS Program External Integration Office at Nasa, said.



“The teams are still looking at the data and evaluating it.”
The crew of the ISS stayed in the Zvezda service module over the weekend, while other modules were opened and closed in order to identify which one had the leak, but to no avail.
The module acted as the living quarters when permanent habitation of the space station began in 2000.


The leak poses no risk to either the station or the people living on board, as the station can be repressurised using nitrogen tanks.
Nasa astronaut Chris Cassidy reemphasised that point in a series of tweets before going into isolation in Zvezda.
“Strangely the data did not point us to any particular location. Yesterday and today, Anatoly and I have been checking all of the window seals (not #navyseals) for any indication of a leak using an ultrasonic leak detector”, he tweeted on 24 September.


“So far no luck finding the source, but it looks like we will try again with the module isolation this weekend. No harm or risk to us as the crew, but it is important to find the leak we are not wasting valuable air.”
The leak first occurred in September 2019, but has remained a mystery to Nasa ever since.
In the coming months, many cargo spacecrafts are scheduled to arrive at the station in the beginning of October.




The NG-14 Cygnus cargo is expected to arrive at the station on 4 October; this “marks the beginning of a very busy vehicle traffic month on ISS,” Dorth said.
By the end of October, the crew of the ISS will reach seven astronauts following docking with the a new Soyuz spacecraft and a SpaceX Crew Dragon.

 

[lanningro]

My parents used to lecture me about closing the front door. Did someone forget up there?

 

[krsone]

Dunk it in water and look for the bubbles . . .

 

[Sid Vicious]

Built by the lowest bidder what did they expect?

 

[Plain Jane]

It's got to be decades old. Is there a maintenance issue? If the last leak was just last year and they still don't know the cause?

 

[TheSearcher]

It's got to be decades old. Is there a maintenance issue? If the last leak was just last year and they still don't know the cause?

I believe the previous leak was one of the Russian spacecraft docked to the station, likely a case of sabotage.

 

[dash8200]

Maybe there's a Democrap up there. Stealing it for the aliens.

 

[dash8200]

Oh, wait I forgot it's Trumps fault...ya that's it!

 

[Knight_Loring]

Read somewhere about 9 - 10 months ago, that a Russian cosmonaut drilled a very small hole in the hull near his bunk.
There have been a lot of accusations back and forth as I recall.

 

[WalknTrot]

Read somewhere about 9 - 10 months ago, that a Russian cosmonaut drilled a very small hole in the hull near his bunk.
There have been a lot of accusations back and forth as I recall.

Yup...I was just about to ask if the Rooskies had drilled another hole in the wall...

Personally, I won't be sorry to see that boon-doggle/moneypit/boat anchor take a controlled nose-dive into the Pacific.

 

[ktrapper]

My parents used to lecture me about closing the front door. Did someone forget up there?

I was 4 years old when we landed on the moon. My parents were explaining to me what we were seeing on the TV. We were watching the news cast about the return splash down. They were telling me that the astronauts had left the moon and came back. The moon at that moment was full and visible from our dining room window. My reply as a four year old:
“Well they didn’t turn the lights off when they left”
I was constantly lectured about turning the lights off when leaving a room.

 

[Lurker]

 

[The Snack Artist]

It's IN SPACE! That's why it's leaking.

 

[poppy]

Read somewhere about 9 - 10 months ago, that a Russian cosmonaut drilled a very small hole in the hull near his bunk.
There have been a lot of accusations back and forth as I recall.

I read it was 2 holes. He was trying to attach the license plates.

 

[Shadow]

The air inside is much warmer than the outside. An infrared camera on an arm from outside should be able to see it.

Shadow

 

[Practical]

Oh! Put a couple of em in spacesuits and light off some smokebombs in there. It will find its way out and there ya go!

 

[Doc1]

It's because space sucks (it's a vacuum)!

Best
Doc

 

[Daytonabill0001]

My parents used to lecture me about closing the front door. Did someone forget up there?

Naw, they got screen doors...

 

[Garryowen]

Shouldn't be a problem. I leak air from time to time, and I feel fine.

 

[Capt. Eddie]

 

[Knighttemplar]

I told them boys not to shoot straight up in the air but they never listen, now look what they done.

 

[Shadow]

Oh! Put a couple of em in spacesuits and light off some smokebombs in there. It will find its way out and there ya go!

Have them smoke some joints and put drug sniffing dogs outside. They will find the leak.

Shadow

 

[Ku Commando]

Yeah......beat me to it.....but there's always the old standby

 

[LoupGarou]

I was waiting for the Duct Tape... Ever since the Cosmonutz ended up taping a VHF handheld radio to the inside of the MIR so that they could talk back to the cosmodrome, I would not put ANYTHING past them as far as "rigging" the messterpiece to keep it up there. And I'm betting that they would do the same on the ISS.

Loup

 

[LoupGarou]

Spaceballs was on to something. Note the date...

 

[DryCreek]

Hmm, a leak. Hard to find. Adam Schiff aboard?

 

[SSTemplar]

It's the balloon that's leaking. The real question is "where will it land?".

 

[Squid]

Not a rocket scientist or anything but air escaping and Nasa can’t find why. It’s probably a hole.
Just saying....

We think of space as empty but in all that empty is just stuff flying around, and wouldn’t be surprised the recent near earth flyby’s left some dust, debris, little rocks or frozen chunks of ice as a present.

 

[Buckaroo]

Would it be possible to inspect part or all of the ISS with laser in hopes that the laser beam would react with escaping gas (air, moisture, temperature and pressure differential) and become visible. Past my bedtime--Goodnight Gracie

 

[Shadow]

Would it be possible to inspect part or all of the ISS with laser in hopes that the laser beam would react with escaping gas (air, moisture, temperature and pressure differential) and become visible. Past my bedtime--Goodnight Gracie

There you go being sensible!

Shadow

 

[Melodi]

One of the more amusing shocks, when the Americans and Russians started sharing space missions, was the American's horror at how "laid back" the Russians were when it came to a lot of things.

The first time one of the NASA guys caught a head cold there was near pandemonium when the Russians reported that they didn't track their Cosmonauts health at all times and that if they caught a cold the Asparain was in the cupboard!

The US/NASA was also shocked beyond belief that the Russians did most of the calculations (even in Space) with a pen and pencil and doing calculations in their head.

Extremes in either direction when dealing with life in a vacuum is probably not a good idea, but it was amusing to see the "culture class."

 

[Dobbin]

Soap bubble test - on the outside.

Smear (you can't pour in space) "Dawn" dishwashing liquid on the outside.

Dobbin

 

[michaelteever]

They have narrowed it down to the Russian side.

Link: Space station air leak forces middle-of-night crew wakeup