Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency, is investigating a coolant leak on the International Space Station (ISS), one of many mechanical issues the agency has suffered the past year. .Astronauts are working outside the ISS after the radiator circuit sprung a leak on the station’s Russian-controlled component Monday..Ground teams are assisting the astronauts in solving the issue, although there is little information regarding the cause of the leak..“Our heroes Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub will go to work outside the ISS,” Roscosmos wrote on Telegram, “this is already the sixth time they have gone out under the Russian program this year.”.The agency said the coolant leak was in a backup radiator circuit on the Nauka module, which has only been part of the space station since July 2021 — but the external backup system has been utilized since 2010. .“The main thermal control circuit of the module operates normally and provides comfortable conditions in the living area of the module,” the Telegram page reads. “The crew and the station are not in danger.”.NASA released an update Monday afternoon, where it was revealed officials in Houston “observed flakes emanating from one of [Nauka’s] two radiators” at 1 p.m. ET..“The flight control team informed the crew aboard the space station of the potential leak and NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli confirmed the presence of the flakes from the cupola windows, after which the crew was asked to close the shutters on US segment windows as a precaution against contamination,” NASA said. .The American Space Agency confirmed Roscosmos’ statement that the primary radiator is running properly and that no one has been hurt or is in danger. .To solve the problem, Roscosmos said “cosmonauts will have to inspect and photograph the leak site on an additional radiation heat exchanger on module ‘Science’ for specialists on Earth to find out the reasons for its occurrence.”.Only then will Roscosmos be able to follow through on its “previously planned exit tasks,” which are installing radar for observing the surface of the earth on the Nauka module and launching the Parus-MGTU student nanosatellite to “test the technology for deploying a solar sail.”
