ISS leaks among 50 'problem areas' for astronaut safety: report

According to a media report, NASA and its Russian counterpart have identified 50 “problem areas” related to a long-standing leak aboard the space station.

The leak has existed in the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) since 2019 and was the focus of a new report from NASA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) released in September. While NASA and Roscosmos are fixing the leak, it still poses a major “safety risk” to astronauts on board, the OIG report said.

NASA officials said in an exclusive conversation with The Washington Post that they are tracking four cracks and 50 other “problem areas” on the ISS. The cracks have been “all covered with a combination of sealant and patches” by Roscosmos, NASA noted in a statement to the newspaper, and repairs are underway. However, according to the OIG, the leak area represents the highest risk in NASA's internal risk assessments, at 5 on a scale of 5.

“We have expressed the severity of the leaks on multiple occasions, including when I was in Russia earlier this year,” deputy administrator Jim Free added in an interview with the Post. Since the leaks are located next to a hatch, Free added that Roscosmos had complied with a request from NASA to close the hatch as much as possible: “We came to a compromise that they would close it in the evening.”

NASA astronauts are also staying on the U.S. side of the orbiting complex to be near their escape vehicles in the event of an evacuation, the agency noted in its statement to the news outlet. However, NASA has repeatedly stressed that the leak poses no immediate threat to astronauts.

“Right now there is no impact on crew safety or vehicle operations, but something everyone should be aware of,” ISS program manager Joel Montalbano said in a press conference in February 2024, when the leak temporarily increased to 2.4 pounds per Day rose to a historic low of 0.2 pounds per day.

Related: NASA offers SpaceX $843 million to destroy the International Space Station

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A diagram of the International Space Station with the service module transfer tunnel label. Russian sections, including the tunnel, are visible in red. A leak from this area rose to a new high of 3.7 pounds per day in April 2024, up from 2.4 pounds per day two months earlier. (Image credit: NASA OIG)

The leak has been around for five years and patches have been underway since it was first discovered; Agency officials noted in a livestreamed briefing on Sept. 27 that repair work reduced the high leak observed in April 2024 by about a third.

The escaping air came from a service module transfer tunnel in Russia's Zvezda module, which was launched in 2000. Zvezda, like the rest of the ISS, is aging and requires maintenance to remain in orbit. The ISS is expected to remain in place until 2030, both to meet NASA's human resources needs and to enable commercial research in low Earth orbit. In the following decade, NASA hopes to have a number of commercial space stations ready to take over operations.

NASA's OIG is tracking several other risks that could jeopardize ISS operations for so long, from a sudden micrometeorite impact to supply chain issues.

SpaceX was tasked with building a large Dragon spacecraft to deorbit the ISS under a contract awarded by NASA earlier this year. The OIG said it would learn more about the timing, costs and risks associated with the new vehicle and the deorbiting plan.

Originally posted on Space.com.