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The International Space Station. | Photo credit: NASA
NASA and the Russian space agency disagree about the risk that a persistent leak poses to the space station, a U.S. advisory committee said.
NASA and Roscosmos also disagree on the causes and remedies for the Russian PrK module leak, International Space Station Advisory Board Chairman Bob Cabana (a former astronaut) said during a brief livestreamed meeting on Wednesday (November 13).
Roscosmos, Cabana added in a recording on Spaceflight Now’s X-feed (formerly Twitter), “does not believe in a catastrophic collapse of the PrK.” [module] is realistic, and NASA has expressed concerns about the structural integrity of PrK and the possibility of catastrophic failure.”
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The leak in the Russian segment of the orbital complex has existed for five years. There was a temporary spike in the leak rate that was resolved earlier this year, and NASA has stressed that there is no immediate danger to the ISS crew.
Still, NASA’s Office of the Inspector General called the leak the biggest “safety risk” to the ISS in a NASA audit released Sept. 26. Parts of the ISS date from 1998; As with any aging complex, maintenance and issues like this are to some extent expected.
Troubleshooting on this matter is still ongoing, Cabana stressed, but NASA and Roscosmos “do not have a common understanding of the likely root causes or the severity of the consequences of these leaks.”
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“The Russian position is that the most likely cause of the cracks is high cycling caused by micro-vibrations,” Cabana said, referring to the bending of metal and similar components that heat and cool when the ISS is in sunlight circles around and flies out again.
“NASA believes that the PrK cracks likely have multiple causes – including pressure and mechanical stress, residual stress, material properties, and environmental influences,” Cabana continued.
NASA and Russia disagree about whether “continued operations are safe,” he added, but the solution for now is to keep the hatch between the U.S. and Russian sides closed while the investigation continues.
The two agencies will continue to meet to reach a “common understanding of structural integrity,” Cabana promised, but did not provide a timeline. Experts from science and industry are also consulted.
The November 13 meeting was the first public meeting of the ISS Advisory Committee since March 2020, before the pandemic disrupted such activities worldwide. Former chairman and Apollo astronaut Tom Stafford died in March 2024 at the age of 93.
Roscosmos and NASA are the main partners of the ISS. After the internationally condemned Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which severed most international space relations with Russia, they continue to cooperate for political and technical reasons (the ISS cannot be broken apart, for example).
Russia plans to leave the ISS as early as 2028, while other partners have committed to 2030.
