Since 1998, the International Space Station (ISS) has been orbiting the Earth, with astronauts in microgravity surroundings about 250 miles higher than the Earth's surface. All time in space has caused losses to its aging hardware, and the space station will retire in the next few years. But before that, security experts warned of long-running problems that threatened the security of the International Space Station, as did crew members.
At the Aerospace Safety Advisory Group (ASAP) meeting held Thursday, members of the NASA Security Team said that risks are increasingly threatening the space station as the use of the space station ends, SpaceNews reported. “ISS has entered the most dangerous period of its existence,” panel member Rich Williams said at the meeting.
At the top of the growth risk list is the leakage, allowing the air to connect the docking port to the tunnel of the Russian module to get higher and higher. In 2019, Russia's space agency Roscosmos reported the detection of an air leak found in the vestibule (named PrK) that connects a docking port to the Russian Zvezda module, which the space agency had launched to low Earth orbit in July 2000. The rate of air that has been leaking from Russia's Zvezda module had doubled from one pound of air per day in 2019 to a little over two pounds around a week before the launch of February 2024 MS-26 cargo spacecraft progress.
Williams said NASA and Roscosmos have been monitoring air leaks and are planning to meet officials from two space agencies later this month to update efforts to alleviate safety issues. A report released in the second half of 2024 raises air leakage to the highest risk based on its possibility and severity. Meanwhile, the source of the leak is still unknown. When access is not required, the astronauts on the ISS are ready to close the hatch to the service module to minimize the amount of lost air and isolate the leakage itself from the rest of the space station.
Another security issue addressed during the meeting was the lack of the Deorbit program for the International Space Station in an emergency. NASA is consolidating plans to abandon nearly one million pounds of space stations by 2030, allowing it to fly in the Earth's atmosphere to burn most of it from heat, while the rest of the drill bits re-enter the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in a controlled manner. But so far, NASA has not avoided the ISS' emergency plan, which is a big problem. If NASA is forced to destroy the space station before retirement, it increases the risk of ISS debris falling into the residential area.
“If it is [U.S. Deorbit Vehicle] Delivered, the risks to the public from the decomposition of debris from the International Space Station will increase by orders of magnitude. ” SpaceNews said. The team highlighted other issues with the International Space Station, including the presence of sufficient spare parts on board for life-saving support systems and delays in delivery of goods. Williams blamed these problems on “ISS budget shortage.”
“With the final phase planning, it’s easy to assume that fewer resource needs are needed,” Williams said. “For the International Space Station, it’s crucial to maintain adequate budget and resources until the vehicle is safely re-entered.”
