From holes in the robotic arm to cracks in the window, astronauts have been complaining about the state of the International Space Station (ISS) for years.
A NASA report admitted this week that there are 50 ‘areas of concern’ and four cracks that could lead to an emergency evacuation of the ISS due to an oxygen leak.
NASA warned that the problems arose from a leak that reached its fastest growth rate yet in April of this year.
If the crew pulls off the daring escape, it would be the first time in the orbital laboratory’s 24-year history that it has housed astronauts.
The first problems reported in 2013, when a piece of space debris caused a small hole in one of the orbiting outpost’s solar panels.
And three years later, an astronaut saw a small circular fracture in a window that looked out into the darkness of space.
Astronauts have said that NASA has done very little to address the increase in leaks aboard the ISS, but in 2021 NASA denied claims that there were “bad” cracks in the module and said there were no problems that ” affect the crew or normal operations.”
Since then, dozens of other leaks and cracks have appeared, which have only been fixed with special tape, gauze and sealant.
The current problem is located in the Russian Zvezda service module transfer tunnel that was installed in 2000 and is used to house life support equipment and to access a Russian loading dock.
In 2019, the module began leaking a small amount of air through an unidentified crack. However, despite efforts to seal the module, the amount of air escaping the station has only increased over the past five years.
The Canadarm2 robotic arm was hit by space debris in May 2021, creating a hole that fortunately did not affect the functionality of the robotic arm.
This is not the first time the ISS has suffered a leak. In 2018, astronauts rushed to repair a hole (pictured) that had appeared in the outer wall of the Soyuz capsule at the orbiting laboratory.
Russia previously predicted that the space station would face a “cascade of failures” starting in 2025 due to its age.
The ISS became fully operational in May 2009, hosting a crew of six, but the orbital laboratory was not continuously manned until November 2, 2000.
For more than a decade, the ship has been bombarded by small meteorites and space debris that are eroding its exterior.
The exact cause of the increasing air leak is unknown, but NASA and Roscosmos are focusing on internal and external welds as a possible source.
Many of the internal problems have arisen from the Russian side of the ISS.
In December 2022, unexpected damage occurred to the Soyuz spacecraft attached to the ISS, causing a coolant leak and leaving the vehicle unsafe for return flight.
The previous year, Bill Shepherd, who was a NASA astronaut from October 2000 to March 2001, said the cracks found on the ISS were a “pretty serious problem” and claimed there could be others that had not been found.
The crack was detected in the Russian Zarya module.
Shepherd said the cracks needed to be resolved before Congress authorized operational use of the ISS beyond 2024.
ISS contractor Vladimir Solovyov said at the time that several “surface cracks” had been found on Zarya.
This module is also known as the “Functional Loading Block” and Solovyov said cracks had been discovered in “several places.”
“This is bad and suggests that the cracks will begin to spread over time,” Solovyov told Russia’s state news agency RIA.
He added that a significant part of the ISS team is aging.
ESA astronaut Tim Peake took this photo from inside the dome in 2016, showing a 7mm diameter circular chip torn off by the impact of a small piece of space debris.
NASA had vehemently denied claims that there were “bad” cracks in the module, saying there were no issues that “affected the crew or normal operations.”
In 2016, a piece of paint floating in space collided with a window on the ISS, creating a seven-millimeter chip in the station’s dome.
‘I am often asked if the International Space Station has been hit by space debris. Yes, this is the chip in one of our dome windows, I’m glad it’s quadruple-glazed,” said European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Tim Peak, who was on the ISS.
To address such possibilities, the station has extensive shielding around all vital technical and crew areas, so that minor impacts, such as this one, do not pose a threat.
Then in 2018, a hole caused an oxygen leak on the ISS that the Russian space agency Roskosmos says was caused deliberately.
They initially thought the damage was caused by a micrometeorite that passed through the spacecraft, but an anonymous source claimed that the hole was drilled by mistake by a worker who sealed it instead of reporting the error.
Space agencies have been tracking the current leak for years. The photo now shows former NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy in 2020 trying to find the source of the leak. Astronauts isolated in the Russian segment of the ship
The small hole was quickly located and sealed, but Russian media speculated that an American astronaut may have sabotaged the spacecraft to delay a possible early return to Earth due to the suspected illness of an ISS crew member.
However, an investigation into the incident did not reveal what had caused the hole.
The Canadarm2 robotic arm, which properly maintains the space station on the ISS, was hit by space debris in May 2021.
Fortunately, the hole did not cause any major malfunctions.
The Canadian Space Agency, which owns the robotic arm, said at the time: “The results of ongoing analysis indicate that the performance of the arm is not affected. The damage is limited to a small section of the arm and thermal blanket. ‘
In 2023, one of the radiators of the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module experienced a coolant leak and the crew was asked to close the windows of the US segment to prevent contamination of the rest of the ISS.
The leak forced all spacewalks to be postponed while the backup radiator was isolated and inspected.
The latest problem was first reported last month, even though officials were aware of the crack in Zveda since 2019 and although potential cracks have been covered with “a combination of sealant and patches,” the source is unknown. exact leak.
Astronauts have been warned to stay in the US section when the module is open so they can be close to their spacecraft in the event of an emergency evacuation, and they have been warned to only open the hatch when absolutely necessary.
And that’s not the only cause for concern, as the space agency has warned that the ISS is at risk of being bombarded by micrometeorites and space debris.
An object up to a centimeter in size could disable a critical instrument or flight system on a satellite.
Anything larger than a centimeter could penetrate the shields of the station’s crew modules, and anything larger than 10 centimeters could shatter a satellite or spacecraft.
It is estimated that there are currently more than 29,000 space debris objects larger than 10 centimeters trapped in Earth’s orbit.
This includes old engine parts, dead satellites, and other floating debris generated by space missions or collisions in space.
EXPLAINED: THE $100 BILLION INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION IS LOCATED 250 MILES ABOVE EARTH
The International Space Station (ISS) is a $100 billion (£80 billion) science and engineering laboratory orbiting 400 kilometers (250 miles) above Earth.
Since November 2000, it has permanently staffed rotating crews of astronauts and cosmonauts.
The crews come mainly from the United States and Russia, but the Japanese space agency JAXA and the European space agency ESA have also sent astronauts.
The International Space Station has been continuously occupied for more than 20 years and has been exhausted with the addition of multiple new modules and systems upgrades.
Research conducted aboard the ISS often requires one or more of the unusual conditions present in low Earth orbit, such as low gravity or oxygen.
ISS studies have investigated human research, space medicine, biological sciences, physical sciences, astronomy and meteorology.
US space agency NASA spends around $3bn (£2.4bn) a year on the space station programme, with the rest of the funding coming from international partners including Europe, Russia and Japan.
So far, 244 people from 19 countries have visited the station, including eight private citizens who spent up to $50 million on their visit.
There is an ongoing debate about the future of the station beyond 2025, when it is believed that part of the original structure will reach the “end of its useful life”.
Russia, a major partner of the station, plans to launch its own orbital platform by then, and Axiom Space, a private company, plans to send its own modules for purely commercial use to the station at the same time.
NASA, ESA, JAXA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) are working together to build a space station in orbit around the Moon, and Russia and China are working on a similar project, which would also include a base on the surface .