After more speculation about cause of ISS leak, NASA issues another statement
A thorough Russian investigation of a leak that occurred in August in the orbital module of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which is attached to the International Space Station, will not be completed until November. But this week, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos reignited controversy about the leak with some comments during a television appearance.
A preliminary investigation, according to Russia's chief spaceflight official, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, "concluded that a manufacturing defect had been ruled out which is important to establish the truth." So if it wasn't a manufacturing defect, then what was it? As Rogozin did not say, this re-fueled speculation in some media reports that the hole was intentionally drilled by NASA astronauts in space. This theory is nonsensical, but it appears to play well to Russian audiences.
After these latest comments and with an imminent Soyuz spacecraft launch on October 11 that will carry NASA astronaut Nick Hague to the International Space Station, the US space agency felt the need to put out a new statement on Wednesday. It reads:
On Aug. 29, 2018 a small hole was discovered on the International Space Station. This resulted in a pressure leak. The hole has been identified and fixed by space station crew.
Russian media recently reported that General Director Rogozin said the hole was not a manufacturing defect. Ruling out a manufacturing defect indicates that this is an isolated issue which does not categorically affect future production.
This conclusion does not necessarily mean the hole was created intentionally or with mal-intent. NASA and Roscosmos are both investigating the incident to determine the cause. The International Space Station Program is tentatively planning a spacewalk in November to gather more information.
On October 11, American Astronaut Nick Hague and Russian Cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin will launch to the International Space Station on a Russian Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Administrator Bridenstine is scheduled to attend the launch and plans to meet with Mr. Rogozin. This will be their first in-person meeting. They had a telephone call on September 12 during which they discussed the International Space Station leak.
Previously: Russian Space Chief Vows to Find "Full Name" of Technician Who Caused ISS Leak
NASA and Roscosmos Release Joint Statement on ISS Leak Amid Rumors
Related Stories
Last week, a pressure leak occurred on the International Space Station. It was slow and posed no immediate threat to the crew, with the atmosphere leaving the station at a rate such that depressurization of the station would have taken 14 days.
Eventually, US and Russian crew members traced the leak to a 2mm breach in the orbital module of the Soyuz MS-09 vehicle that had flown to the space station in June. The module had carried Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev, European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, and NASA's Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor.
[...] The drama might have ended there, as it was initially presumed that the breach had been caused by a tiny bit of orbital debris. However, recent Russian news reports have shown that the problem was, in fact, a manufacturing defect. It remains unclear whether the hole was an accidental error or intentional. There is evidence that a technician saw the drilling mistake and covered the hole with glue, which prevented the problem from being detected during a vacuum test.
Russian theory that NASA sabotaged the space station spreading like wildfire
As you may recall, a low-pressure leak occurred aboard the International Space Station in late August. Eventually the crews traced the leak to the orbital module of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft that had arrived at the station in June. After the problem was traced to what appears to be a manufacturing defect, the head of Russia's space program essentially called for the head of whoever made the error. Now, however, something entirely new is afoot in Russia. A growing number of Russian publications have been putting forth an absurd new theory—that a NASA astronaut deliberately caused the leak on board the station in order to force the evacuation of a sick crew member. The story has spread like wildfire during the last 24 hours, according to Robinson Mitchell, who translates Russian space stories for Ars.
One of the most prominent articles was published Wednesday in Kommersant, which says Russian investigators are vigorously pursuing the claim that Americans may have damaged the Soyuz deliberately. Publicly, Roscosmos leader Dmitry Rogozin was quoted as saying about Russia's investigation into the leak, "Results we have received do not give us an objective picture. The situation is much more complex than we earlier thought." Privately, however, several sources from the space agency are leaking much juicier comments to the Russian media. "Our Soyuz is next to the Rassvet (Dawn) module, right next to the hatch into the American segment of the station," one source told Kommersant. "Access to our ship is possible only with the permission of our commander, but we cannot exclude an unsanctioned access by the Americans."
One hull crack located in ISS, another one suspected:
The specialists have discovered one more crack at the International Space Station and suspect that yet another one exists, ISS Russian Segment head Vladimir Solovyov told [news channel] Rossiya-24.
"So far, we have found one place and suspect another, where as some kind of leak exists. We must bring a powerful microscope on a cargo spacecraft and use to examine this place. We are not totally certain so far," Solovyov said.
[...] "We are working on it, of course. We understand clearly that these places are at issue. The[sic] are indeed not airtight, we understand that there could be some other places, but there is no horror in that, I can say it responsible[sic] as the mission head," he assured.
Also At: BoingBoing
Previously:
(2018) NASA and Roscosmos Release Joint Statement on ISS Leak Amid Rumors
(2018) Controversy Over ISS Leak Continues, Spacewalk Planned for November
Two Russian cosmonauts have removed samples from a Soyuz spacecraft docked at the International Space Station during a spacewalk. They used knives and shears to cut around the now-sealed 2mm hole in the Soyuz MS-09:
Expedition 57 flight engineers Oleg Kononenko and Sergey Prokopyev of the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos conducted the 7-hour and 45-minute spacewalk. The two cosmonauts worked on the exterior of the Russian Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft, where the space station's crew had earlier found and repaired the leak from the inside.
[...] Today, Prokopyev joined Kononenko on a spacewalk to inspect the repair area from the outside in an effort to discover what caused the leak and to collect a sample of the epoxy that had extruded through the hole from the inside. To reach the area needed to perform the inspection, Kononenko rode at the end of two Russian Strela booms, translating from the Pirs docking compartment where the spacewalk began to the Zarya functional cargo block (FGB) and then up alongside the Soyuz. Prokopyev controlled the booms' motion from the opposite end, moving Kononenko into place, before shimmying up the second boom himself.
At the worksite, Kononenko and Prokopyev took turns using a knife and a pair of long-arm scissors to stab at and cut away layers of brown, gold and silvery insulation. As they cut into the spacecraft, small fragments of the material floated away and formed a cloud of debris. The two cosmonauts then used the same tools to cut into and peel away a thin metal orbital debris shield to expose the hole in the Soyuz MS-09's orbital compartment. [...] Kononenko used a pair of forceps and a swab to collect samples of the dark epoxy. The residue, stowed inside a bag, was brought back inside the space station and will be returned to Earth for analysis.
Also at BBC.
Previously: Russian Space Chief Vows to Find "Full Name" of Technician Who Caused ISS Leak
NASA and Roscosmos Release Joint Statement on ISS Leak Amid Rumors
Controversy Over ISS Leak Continues, Spacewalk Planned for November
Russia’s space program just threw a NASA astronaut under the bus:
Russia's state-owned news service, TASS, has published an extraordinarily defamatory article about NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor. The publication claims that Auñón-Chancellor had an emotional breakdown in space, then damaged a Russian spacecraft in order to return early. This, of course, is a complete fabrication.
The context for the article is the recent, near-disastrous docking of the Russian Nauka science module with the International Space Station. The TASS article attempts to rebut criticism in US publications (including Ars Technica) that covered the incident and raised questions about the future of the Roscosmos-NASA partnership in space.
One of a dozen rebuttals in the TASS article concerns a 2018 incident—a 2 mm breach in the orbital module of the Soyuz MS-09 vehicle docked with the International Space Station. Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev, European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, and NASA's Auñón-Chancellor had flown to the station inside this Soyuz in June. The leak was discovered in late August.
Previously:
(2020-09-05) Source of International Space Station Leak Still Not Found, NASA Says
(2018-12-13) Cosmonauts Cut Into Soyuz Docked at the ISS During Nearly 8-Hour Spacewalk
(2018-11-03) Roscosmos Completes Investigation into October Soyuz Failure, Finds Assembly Issue
(2018-10-03) Controversy Over ISS Leak Continues, Spacewalk Planned for November
(2018-09-14) NASA and Roscosmos Release Joint Statement on ISS Leak Amid Rumors
(2018-09-06) Russian Space Chief Vows to Find "Full Name" of Technician Who Caused ISS Leak
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @10:56PM
The leak is slow enough to be safe, but fast enough to vent a fart. One of the Russians has a digestion issue. He doesn't want to piss off his coworkers. He figured that he could save farts in condoms, then take them over to the hole for disposal. Unfortunately for him, the hole was not quite small enough to hide from pressure monitoring and leak detectors.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday October 03 2018, @11:10PM (1 child)
The spotlight has finally been put on the low-life leakers! Leakers are traitors and cowards, and we will find out who they are. Find the leakers. They will be caught!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 03 2018, @11:45PM
DeathMonkey finds evidence of collusion at last.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Wednesday October 03 2018, @11:26PM
He wasn't close to a bathroom, so he effectively pissed behind a barn.
It was a once in a lifetime experience. Which means I'll never do it again.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Thursday October 04 2018, @03:30AM (5 children)
What use could such a tool be in an environment where the fillings would be floating around messing up the air recycling systems and all the electrical systems on board?
The Musk/Trump interview appears to have been hacked, but not a DDOS hack...more like A Distributed Denial of Reality.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @03:43AM
You can use a vacuum hose near the drill to catch most of the debris. Perhaps they even have a special tool where a suction pipe surrounds the drill bit.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday October 04 2018, @03:43AM
NASA thinks of everything: there is a pair of fingernail clippers on board.
But a YouTube I saw once had the astronaut who demonstrated the clippers pointing out that it was important to clip one's fingernails right next to an air intake.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday October 04 2018, @03:21PM (2 children)
They make drills with magnetic drill bits/heads, and I'm sure they have containers around for storing the others.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday October 04 2018, @03:24PM (1 child)
Oh, the filings. Disregard
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @05:22PM
disregard that, I suck cocks
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @03:35AM
ofc the secret and tiny no-reaction-mass test device was only a manoverable sucess because of this hole...
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday October 04 2018, @03:42AM (2 children)
The ISS always keeps enough reentry capsules around so that the entire crew can escape if there is an emergency.
But the placement of that hole, or the damage it did to the capsule's structure may have rendered that capsule unsuitable for reentry. If so, they're going to have to launch an extra one to replace it.
That would make that a very very expensive hole.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mhajicek on Thursday October 04 2018, @04:52AM
What I want to know is if there's a protrusion (bolt end, threaded rod?) of matching dimension on any piece of equipment that ever passed through that hatch.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 4, Informative) by sjames on Thursday October 04 2018, @06:14AM
It's still a perfectly good lifeboat. The hole is in the habitation module (aka orbital module) which is jettisoned just before reentry and burns up in the atmosphere (by design). The re-entry module below it is the one that needs to be in good condition for a safe return.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday October 04 2018, @03:19PM (6 children)
And here I thought *we* were the only ones making fools of ourselves politically on a daily basis...
(for values of "we" being "that orange bastard")
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by loonycyborg on Thursday October 04 2018, @07:57PM (5 children)
Who exactly made fools of themselves in this case? Neither NASA nor Roscosmos did because neither of them accused NASA astronauts of drilling holes. Once again that was the media in their pursuit of silly dramas.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday October 04 2018, @08:37PM (4 children)
Whichever Russians came up with this bullcrap "obviously it must've been an American astronaut sabotaging the ISS, Mother Russia is blameless, no you can't see the evidence for this, shut up and go away." But we've already established that apparently no Russians ever call Putin on his blatant grandstanding and twisting of the truth because that would mean that something might actually be their fault.
Obviously there are a lot of people who think the U.S. can do no wrong either, but it's just funny to see the logical contortions their citizens seem to be willing to buy for why Russia/Putin is always right.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 05 2018, @12:02AM
My bet is on someone who is underpaid. Screwed something up. Covered it up. No QA to oversee it and poor manufacturing hygiene. It ended up in space. The end.
(Score: 2) by loonycyborg on Friday October 05 2018, @08:27AM (2 children)
Such approach to newsmaking was imported directly from the West, yet another proof that Russians shouldn't mindlessly borrow everything from there. Don't mix in "Putin/Russia always right" here, that's just dumb red herring. It's all about getting the catchiest headline.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday October 05 2018, @02:53PM (1 child)
Ayep. Winning? :P
I dunno, it seems to be working quite well for Pooty. Whatever minimal competition he has from other politicians, he can just poison them and tell the FSB to bury the investigation. As it turns out, being a former secret police chief is an excellent way to bootstrap yourself into power and keep it. Another reason why secret police suck.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday October 05 2018, @02:57PM
Or am I thinking of the Ukrainian guys. In any case, I remember him vanishing/arresting at least one opposition leader, presumably quite a few more.
"Russia needs a tsar"
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: -1, Troll) by MyOpinion on Friday October 05 2018, @02:17AM
... would you mind showing me a time lapse video of the construction of "SkyLab"?
Also the "ISS", where is a time lapse video for that? There should be many for this pinnacle of human engineering, correct? Try as I might, found nothing. Or was there billions spent but not on videos? Why the secrecy on a civilian station?
A full, uninterrupted 24/7/365 4K should also exist, but it does not; how come the signal is lost, with 13,000 to 17,000 satellites "up there" to bounce it off of? And the "ISS tour" is also full of video cuts, why is that?
I am guessing the freshly-installed "multiplexor/demultiplexor" is not multiplexing/demultiplexing good enough, what would you say? Is there an upcoming "space walk" to fix it (and grab a 360 panorama while at it to finally show us where we live)?
Truth is like a Lion: you need not defend it; let it loose, and it defends itself. https://discord.gg/3FScNwc