Sergey Krikalev, managing director of Roscosmos, told socialbites.ca that leaks due to microcracks on the ISS are extremely difficult to find, they can only be seen for a long time.
“The fact is that the pressure at the station varies with temperature, humidity, oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. And it varies in a much wider range than these leaks. A leak can only be caught over a long period of time, as the “toothed saw” is constantly visible on the graph and it takes time to see a very small slope of the overall trajectory,” Krikalev said.
According to him, you will not see these changes in daily charts. Because leaks are caused by microcracks, no leak detector will detect them.
The question of the cause of these cracks is still open.
“There is a concept in technology: ‘fatigue cracks’. But both Russian and American scientists, technicians, engineers said that it was definitely not them. Because the areas where these micro-leaks are found are not “loaded places”. And the highest probability of a “fatigue crack” is exactly where cyclic loading is maximum. Therefore, the answer to this question has not yet been found,” explained Sergey Krikalev.
The best way to get rid of these microcracks has not yet been determined.
“We tried to seal them with special adhesive tape, then we used special sealants. A special technological operation has been developed on how to do this on Earth. The leaks have decreased but not completely disappeared. Therefore, when looking for options, ”the expert concluded.
For more information on how Russia and the US interact on the ISS in the face of political tension and why the station operates after the warranty period, see report Krikalev “socialbites.ca”.
It was previously known how the ISS was will pass Experiment with self-healing material.
Source: Gazeta
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