Soyuz capsule leak could strand astronauts on space station
Images of the spectacular coolant leak from the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that took place on Wednesday (Dec 14) convinced a leading spaceflight safety expert that the craft is most likely no longer airworthy. . And that is a great risk to the safety of the inhabitants of the International Space Station.
Tommaso Sgobba is the President of the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS) and former Head of Space Flight Safety at the European Space Agency (ESA). Now formally retired, the veteran aerospace engineer who worked for years on Europe’s human spaceflight program spoke to Space.com about the Soyuz coolant leak. His conclusions are pretty damning. the soyuz spacecraftSgobba believes, is “damaged beyond repair” and won’t be able to bring home the three space travelers he took to the space station in September.
What is worse, for the first time in its history, the International Space Station (ISS) lacks the ability to evacuate all its occupants in the event of a serious incident.
“From what I saw on the images, this was a massive loss of coolant,” Sgobba told Space.com. “I have to assume that the Soyuz spacecraft’s active coolant system was compromised and therefore the Soyuz is no longer available for operation. It’s my personal opinion, but if true, we have a big problem on the station.” We’re missing the crew escape system.”
Related: Soyuz capsule damaged by uncontrolled leak while on space station
No lifeboat for Soyuz crew
Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio arrived on the ISS aboard the now-damaged Soyuz on September 22 and are scheduled to return to Earth on March 28. Also on station are NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Koichi Wakata of Japan and Anna Kikina of Russia, who arrived aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon in early October. That makes seven space travelers.
But with the Soyuz likely gone forever, only four people could make it to safety in case something goes wrong. This dangerous situation could last for weeks or months before a new spacecraft can be sent to the space station, according to Sgobba.
“This would probably be the first time that the space station has not had the full capacity of a lifeboat,” Sgobba said. “The only thing that can be done is for Russia to send a replacement Soyuz, but that’s not something that happens overnight. We have to assume that there will be a period of weeks or perhaps months where this lack of [rescue] capacity on the space station will be a matter of life.”
Tommaso Sgobba is the executive director and board secretary of the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety and a former head of space flight safety at the European Space Agency (ESA). Now formally retired, Sgobba joined ESA in 1989 and worked as Product Assurance and Safety Manager for all European manned missions on the Space Shuttle, the MIR Station and for the European Research Facility on the International Space Station. In 2004, he received a NASA Recognition Award for his outstanding contribution to the International Space Station and in 2007 the prestigious NASA Space Flight Awareness (SFA) award.
rescue mission
So what exactly would the rescue operation look like? Sgobba believes that Russia will most likely send two Soyuz spacecraft to the orbital outpost at the same time. The two spacecraft together would bring a new three-member crew.
One of these Soyuz capsules would then depart with the currently stranded team, while the second would remain on station as a lifeboat for the next mission. The Soyuz spacecraft is typically piloted by two cosmonauts with a third seat available for astronaut passengers from other agencies or space tourists.
During the rescue operation, one of the capsules would have to arrive at the station with a single cosmonaut at the helm. Although the Soyuz uses an autonomous docking system, Sgobba doesn’t think the capsule can make the journey completely empty.
“I don’t think Soyuz can dock fully autonomously,” Sgobba said. “I think at least one person has to be on board.”
Dragon Crew won’t help
Sgoba also explained that transporting stranded crew members on one of the SpaceX planes crew dragon capsules would be difficult, if not impossible. The reason for this is the lack of custom-made spacesuits required for the occupants of the Dragon spaceship.
“Russian and NASA suits are made to fit a certain range of human sizes,” Sgobba said. “And they have a lacing system that makes them fit better. But SpaceX suits are custom-made, they’re designed to fit absolutely perfectly or they wouldn’t work.”
Following the escape Russia canceled two planned spacewalks, including that of Prokopyev and Petelin that was about to start when the leak began. This decision, along with the scaly appearance of the material sprayed from the damaged spacecraft, convinced Sgobba that the leaking substance was toxic refrigerant ammonia, which could pose a safety hazard to crew members.
“These ammonia flakes can stick to the spacesuit and you could take them into the living environment of the space station,” Sgobba said. “The heat inside the station would cause them to vaporize and that’s not good because the ammonia is very toxic to humans.”
Was it space junk?
When it comes to the cause of the incident, Sgobba is inclined to believe that the tank may have been hit by a larger piece of space junk, though it’s also possible that the valve was malfunctioning.
“The leak was very big, but of course, it could be a leaking fuel port or something,” Sgobba said. “But because he [space debris] the environment being what it is, i can imagine it may have been some kind of larger object. Not a micrometeorite, because the spacecraft must be designed to withstand the impact of small objects.”
Roscosmos issued a statement (opens in a new tab) on Telegram on Friday (Dec 16) writing that while the leak has caused a “slight temperature change”, there is currently no threat to the ISS crew.
“Changes in the temperature regime are now not critical for the operation of the equipment and the comfort of the station crew, even according to the reports of the crew itself, and do not pose a threat to the life and health of the cosmonauts”. the statement says, according to a Google translation.
However, even though space station operations are not affected by the temperature change, it is unknown whether the Soyuz capsule can fly. The Roscosmos statement does not address questions about whether or not the spacecraft is currently airworthy.
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