Derek Richardson
October ninth, 2023
A coolant leak on the Nauka module, left, was seen coming from an exterior radiator, heart of picture, in accordance Roscosmos. Credit score: NASA
Coolant seems to have leaked from an exterior radiator on Russia’s Nauka science module on the Worldwide House Station.
At about 1 p.m. EDT (17:00 UTC) Oct. 9, NASA’s mission management in Houston alerted the ISS crew to the scenario and requested for visible affirmation and some extent of origin.
“We’re seeing flakes exterior. We want a crew [member] to go to the cupola, look towards the aft facet — we expect home windows 5 – 6 — and ensure any visible flakes,” mission management requested NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, one in every of seven folks aboard the outpost as a part of Expedition 70.
“There’s a leak coming from the radiator on the MLM.” Moghbeli mentioned, referring to the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module Nauka.
Flakes might be seen by way of exterior cameras coming from the overall space of the Nauka module, nevertheless the precise location of the leak was tough to pinpoint. Station Commander and European House Company astronaut Andreas Mogensen mentioned he took photographs to be despatched to the bottom for evaluation.
NASA confirmed the incident later in the day. Furthermore, Roscosmos, via its Telegram social media account, confirmed the leak was from the exterior backup radiator, which was delivered greater than a decade in the past and put in on Nauka earlier this 12 months.
Roscosmos and NASA mentioned there was no risk to the crew or the station and groups on the bottom are examine the reason for the leak.
Nauka was launched in July of 2021, properly greater than a decade later than initially deliberate. Whereas on its solution to the ISS, it had propulsion points nearly instantly. Furthermore, shortly after docking, a programming error brought about the module’s thrusters to fireside to depletion, inflicting the complete soccer field-sized advanced to spin 1.5 occasions earlier than the outpost was introduced beneath management.
That is additionally the third coolant leak on Russian house {hardware} on the ISS in lower than a 12 months. In December 2022 and February 2023, the exterior radiators of Soyuz MS-22 and Progress MS-21, respectively, have been reported to have been struck by micrometeoroid particles, inflicting the entire coolant to leak into the vacuum of house.
The incident on Soyuz MS-22 prompted Roscosmos to ship a alternative Soyuz to the outpost in February 2023 for Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, requiring that trio to stay on the ISS for a further six months. They landed safely in Soyuz MS-23 in September after spending greater than a 12 months aboard the outpost.
The exterior radiator was launched with Rassvet, left, in 2010. Throughout a sequence of spacewalks in 2023, the radiator was put in onto Nauka. Credit score: NASA
Derek Richardson
Derek Richardson has a level in mass media, with an emphasis in modern journalism, from Washburn College in Topeka, Kansas. Whereas at Washburn, he was the managing editor of the scholar run newspaper, the Washburn Evaluation. He additionally has a web site about human spaceflight known as Orbital Velocity. You’ll find him on twitter @TheSpaceWriter.
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