NASA has announced that a “ slow leak ” has been notice on control board the International Space Station – but there is no cause for alarm for the astronauts on board .
The leak was reported last night at 7 pm EDT , while the astronauts were asleep ( 11 atomic number 61 local clip on the station ) , when mission controllers noticed a diminution in pressure on the station . The spaceman were allowed to remain sleeping as the insistence loss was minor , noted NASA .
In the cockcrow , the crowd worked with mission control to try and locate the passing water . It now looks like it is come from the orbital module from one of the docked Soyuz ballistic capsule on card the space station .
“ The bunch are healthy and safe with weeks of aviation allow in the International Space Station military reserve , " NASA enunciate in astatement .
And on Twitter they noted the crew was “ in no danger and is actively working troubleshooting procedures . ”
The US astronauts and Russian cosmonauts are now process with charge ascendence to try and work out a fix for the job . It has been temporarily taped up at the moment , with plan for more lasting spot soon , according to NASASpaceflight ’s Chris Bergin .
The hole was likely created by some sort of micrometeoroid , although the precise cause is not yet known . It ’s a very small hole though ; if it continued leaking , the ISS would n’t run out of air for18 days .
It also looks like the hole is not large enough to cause any problems with the Soyuz MS-09spacecraft . This will be used to render three of the work party back to Earth in a few months , but the orbital segment – where the leak is locate – is cast away from Soyuz spacecraft before the gang passes through the atmosphere in the Descent Module .
Depressurization events like this on the ISS are a cause for concern , though . If a spell of junk is found to be heading in the general orbit of the ISS , the work party will get into the tail space vehicle and prepare to evacuate if the station is severely damage . While this has hap several times , excreting has never been necessary .
little pieces of dust like micrometeoroids are a bountiful job though , as their tiny size ( typically less than 2 millimeters ) stand for they ca n’t be tracked . So there is always a danger they can hit the station and cause problems like this .
At the moment it looks like this leak has been contained , although there is still some fastener to do . It ’s a easy admonisher though that orbit at 27,000 kilometre per hour ( 17,000 miles per hour ) above our heads , life in space can be fairly risky at metre .
