Posted on 09/03/2020 6:27:05 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Officials first noticed a leak last September, but they didn't do anything about it for nearly a year, since the leak wasn't major. Plus, station operations like space walks and crew exchanges kept crew members too busy to collect enough data about the issue.
Recently, however, technicians detected an increase to the already elevated leak rate. So NASA announced on August 20 that the three men aboard the station NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner would begin a hunt for the source.
That search is "taking longer than expected," NASA spokesman Daniel Huot told Business Insider last week.
Indeed, Huot said on Tuesday that technical teams were still reviewing the data collected by the crew. They have now ruled out most of the station's modules, Huot added, and should complete their review "in the coming days."
If specialists still can't pinpoint the leak after that, he said, they will need a new action plan.
Usually, the little bit of air that the space station loses can be replaced by launching large highly pressurised tanks filled with nitrogen and oxygen up on resupply missions. But such tanks might not be able to replace air quickly enough if this small leak were to become major.
NASA originally thought US and Russian specialists would find the leak by the end of last week, though that didn't happen. The teams decided to spend an extra few days collecting data from the hatches after the initial weekend of monitoring, Huot said.
Still, he added, the leak is too small to be a threat to the crew or the station right now.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencealert.com ...
Still, he added, the leak is too small to be a threat to the crew or the station right now.
“The leak rate is still stable and well below the design specifications for the station and presents no concern for crew or vehicle safety,” Huot said.
Is Huot giving us the full story?
Erosion will make the leak a bigger problem.
Somebody is sneaking out to have a smoke.
Erosion will make the leak a bigger problem.
This is fake news.
They need to coat the station in something and see where the bubbles leak out.
Would there be a product that keeps viscosity at super extreme changes in temp?
Freon worked well for leak testing until they banned it. Dunno if it will work venting into vacuum though.
Gross, about what I think of smoking.
“In the good old days of smoking on passenger airplanes, maintenance used to find weak spots in the fuselage by nicotine stains on the outside of the aircraft.”
There was some consternation when cigarettes were banned because the tar would seal the rivets and make the plane easier to pressurize. I think they ended up having to use some sort of sealer at the factory.
Here's another that works on houses, but maybe not on space stations: Aeroseal.
https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/aeroseal-rolls-out-air-sealing-technology-for-houses
yeah the guy who said try to close off sections and see if they can tell if air is leaking would at least identify all the sections that have problems
then narrow it down within each problem section
it crossed my mind though what if the leaks were coming from the section couplers themselves, dunno
The broom handles caught fire too!
Excellent point on the couplings. I’m not an engineer so I don’t know what materials they may have used for the gaskets, but is it possible one that passed QC had an unknown defect, or that exposure to solar radiation is causing it so slowly break down? Not to be The Harbinger of Doom here, I’m just spitballing - I’m sure this has all been vetted or is being looked at - but if they found deterioration in multiple couplers from a common cause......
well all gaskets that have rubber in em outgas over time
sunlight can help this accelerate
add in extreme temperatures and conditions
and that some have been up there quite awhile
thing is different countries made different modules
so you get the variations in vendors and suppliers and materials
I suppose dipping it in a water tank and looking for bubbles is out of the question.
Pop a smoke bomb and see where it exits the space station.
At 1,005F, I guess they would! I never thought about that before.
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