Strike From a Space Rock May Have Caused Soyuz Coolant Leak on the ISS

Ground groups are investigating the reason for an upsetting coolant leak that erupted yesterday on the Russian Soyuz Ms-22 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station (ISS). Experts at the moment are saying {that a} micrometeorite might have been accountable.

Micrometeorites are tiny pebbles, roughly the dimensions of a grain of sand, that zip round house at excessive speeds, often impacting spacecraft. The Webb Telescope’s major mirror was smacked by a micrometeorite earlier in May, barely impacting its efficiency. They could also be small, and normally trigger no hurt, however ought to a micrometeorite handle to hit one thing like a spacecraft radiator, nicely, that has the potential to provide some badness.

Sergei Krikalev, a former cosmonaut who heads the crewed house flight program for Roscosmos, was quoted in Russian state media outlet TASS as saying that the reason for the leak “may be a micrometeorite entering the radiator.” A attainable consequence of a collision may very well be “changes in the temperature regime,” he added. “No other changes in the telemetric parameters of either the Soyuz spacecraft or the [ISS] on the Russian or American segments have been detected,” he mentioned.

That a micrometeorite struck the Soyuz radiator is a definite chance. But it’s additionally attainable {that a} tiny piece of human-produced house junk is answerable for the leak. According to the European Space Agency, there are presently round 130 million pieces of space junk in Earth orbit that measure between 1 millimeter and 1 centimeter in measurement.

On Wednesday, floor groups found a fountain of particles pouring out from the docked Soyuz spacecraft. The uncommon sight, which lasted for hours, was traced to a coolant leak possible coming from the exterior radiator cooling loop of the Soyuz spacecraft, NASA wrote in a blogpost on Thursday.

The leak was first detected round 7:45 p.m. ET on December 14 when “data from multiple pressure sensors in the cooling loop showed low readings,” the house company added.

Two Russian cosmonauts had been making ready to exit the house station for a routine spacewalk, which has now been postponed indefinitely because of the leak. Thankfully, the crew on board the ISS weren’t harmed, however it’s not but confirmed whether or not the Soyuz spacecraft suffered significant harm. The spacecraft carried NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin to the ISS in September, and is about to take them residence when their expedition ends within the spring of subsequent yr.

“Roscosmos is closely monitoring Soyuz spacecraft temperatures, which remain within acceptable limits,” NASA wrote in its weblog. “NASA and Roscosmos continue to coordinate external imagery and inspection plans to aid in evaluating the external leak location.”

The house businesses can even be utilizing Canadarm2, a robotic arm put in on the skin of the ISS, to get a more in-depth have a look at the Soyuz spacecraft. Canadarm2 was struck by a flying piece of house junk, or probably a micrometeorite, in June 2021, which created a gap on the robotic arm.

If floor groups deem the Soyuz spacecraft unusable for a crewed journey again to Earth, then the three astronauts on board the ISS might have to attend for one more spacecraft to make its strategy to low Earth orbit and transport them again residence.

We’ll be following the story because it develops and offering updates on the leaky spacecraft.

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