A week after the discovery of a major leak from a Soyuz module docked to the ISS, all eyes are on the International Space Station and its crew still on board. The Russian module, condemned, leads Russia to prepare a new spacecraft to come to the aid of the astronauts present in the ISS.
The damage caused by this major leak is not yet fully known. However, one thing is certain, the Soyuz module at the origin of the leak is doomed. Indeed, declared uninhabitable because of temperatures measured on board, the MS-22 space vehicle, normally used to transport crews between the ISS and the Russian land base in Baikonur, is out of service. A loss which is not, so far, dramatic but which potentially endangers the crew aboard the station.
Currently numbered at seven, astronauts on the ISS would face a stalemate in the event of a serious problem on the ISS requiring an emergency evacuation. Indeed, the second mobile vehicle allowing the transport of a crew comprises only four-seater. Thus, the Russian Space Agency would consider anticipating the sending of a second Soyuzby February.
Meteor shower, space debris, malfunctioning engine: the cause of the damage under investigation.
In addition to not knowing all the damage caused by this major incident, its causes are also not all known. If in this case, the main suspect remains the Geminid meteor shower occurred at the same time, certain physical inconsistencies (in particular on the positions of certain impacts) do not yet allow the case to be closed. The American, Russian and European space agencies continue to investigate, in particular, the possibility of a larger hardware failure.
To read : Space debris is increasingly choking Earth’s orbit
Finally, another theory would partly explain the drama encountered by the ISS: the impact of the Soyuz with space debris. As a reminder, artificial space debris, that is to say man-made, are more and more numerous and threatening. The European Space Agency estimates that 750,000 the number of “flying balls” of a size equal to or less than one centimeter. 20,000 fragments larger than 10 centimeters also orbit the Earth, making any spacewalk dangerous for astronauts. Finally, 5,000 pieces of debris measuring at least one meter also threaten the integrity of certain space vehicles, satellites or the ISS. The speed of this debris of around 25,000 kilometers per hour makes each object particularly dangerous for astronauts.
Source : rfi.fr
