(Moscow) The Russian space agency Roscosmos said Monday that the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) is not in danger despite a new coolant leak on its segment, the third such incident in less than ‘a year.
“The Nauka module of the Russian segment of the ISS suffered a coolant leak from the external radiator circuit [de secours]which was delivered to the station in 2012,” Roscosmos said on Telegram.
According to the Russian agency, “nothing threatens the crew and the station”. “The module’s main thermal control circuit operates normally and ensures comfortable conditions in the module’s living area,” she said.
Seven people are currently on board the ISS: three Russians, two Americans, a Dane and a Japanese.
The exchanges with the ISS are partly broadcast live on the internet, and at the end of the day, an operator from the control center on Earth asked part of the crew to go to the Cupola, a observation dome allowing astronauts to see outside.
“We see flakes outside,” he told them, asking that they try to confirm “the point of origin.”
“There is a leak coming from the radiator of the MLM” (Multipurpose Laboratory Module, the other name for the Nauka segment), astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli later said.
“The crew on board were never in any danger,” NASA later said in a statement, confirming that the leak was indeed from the emergency heater. The primary cooling circuit is working, “without impact on the crew or operations” of the station, added the American space agency.
Repeated incidents
Several incidents involving leaks have occurred recently.
In December, the ship Soyuz MS-22 docked to the ISS had suffered a coolant leak due to the impact of a micrometeorite according to Moscow, which had decided to send the MS-23 spacecraft as a replacement.
This incident forced two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut to stay longer than expected on board the ISS. They were finally able to return to Earth safely at the end of September.
A leak similar to the December incident also affected another Russian space vehicle, the cargo ship, in mid-February Progress MS-21docked with the ISS, but it was not intended to transport passengers.
“With three coolant leaks, there is a common trait,” Jonathan McDowell, astronomer and space analyst, commented in Washington. “One is nothing, two is a coincidence, three is something systemic. »
“This highlights the degraded reliability of Russian space systems,” he added. “Maybe it’s a cooling system subcontractor that needs to get its act together, or maybe it reflects something more systemic about the quality controls in the Russian program. »
The Russian space sector, which has historically been the pride of the country, has been facing difficulties for years, between lack of funding, failures and corruption scandals.
The ISS constitutes one of the few areas of cooperation still ongoing between Moscow and Washington since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine and the international sanctions that followed.