According to Moscow, TASS News Agency on December 19, Dmitry Rogozin, president of the Russian National Space Corporation, said that the company would deliver more oxygen to the International Space Station in February next year if necessary, and some of the facilities of the station. Obsolete or should be retired.
Rogozin said on the 19th: “First of all, the International Space Station itself has oxygen reserves. If it is necessary to replenish oxygen and nitrogen in the event of a lower pressure inside the space station, we have corresponding reserves.
Then we intend to launch a cargo ship in February to deliver supplies such as oxygen reserves to the space station.
He pointed out that if necessary, some materials may be shipped through American cargo ships. “If necessary, we may use our relationship with NASA to use the U.S. cargo spacecraft to carry some supplies, including oxygen,” Rogozin explained.
Rogozin revealed that the air leakage of the International Space Station has been controlled. “Don’t worry, everything is normal, everything is under control,” he said affirmatively.
Rogozin pointed out that the leakage of air is like sounding the alarm bell, and it is time to “think about a new design”.
According to Rogozin’s speculation, the problem of air leakage may be related to the impact of the ISS’s capsule beyond its useful life.
He said: “Of course we will solve this problem. But despite this, I’d like to say it again: There will still be problems in the future… The space station designed a long time ago began to whisper to us: ‘It’s time for me to retire.’”
According to him, some of the facilities in the Russian section of the space station were built during the Soviet era and were designed to last for 15 years, but they are still in use today.
He said: “Obviously, there are some problems related to factors such as metal fatigue in some outdated facilities of the space station. That’s why we are discussing and considering the construction of a new space station, the Russian National Orbital Space Station… As you can see, how long will the International Space Station operate with increasing problems like this? I think it will definitely operate until 2024, maybe 2028.”
According to the report, earlier media quoted the contact between the International Space Station and the Flight Control Center as saying that there was a leak on the International Space Station, and Russian astronauts were looking for a new air leakage point.
On the morning of October 15 this year, the crew of the International Space Station reported that a possible air leakage point had been found in the transition section of the Russian service module Star.
Astronaut Anatoly Ivanishin said the leaking point looked like a curved scratch and was 2 to 3 cm long. Later, astronaut Sergei Ryzhkov corrected that the length of the scratch was about 4.5 cm.
In November, Russian astronauts took photos of the leaking point area from the outside of the International Space Station during a spacewalk. From the outside, it did not seem to be damaged.
The report also said that on December 18, experts from the Flight Control Center said in an exchange with the International Space Station that judging from the pressure, there is still a leaking point in the transition section of the Star service module, and it is not clear where the specific location is.
