The ISS may have more than six cracks, according to experts interviewed by Izvestia. Most likely, the station has already exhausted its resource, experts fear. The metal has worn out, and it can be fixed only by melting it, which is impossible, they explained.
The station has been in operation since 1998 and was originally designed for 15 years.
“Over time, cracks will appear and grow in the metal shell of the ISS from the presence of cyclic mechanical loads and thermal cycling (the station is now on the sunny side, now in the shadow area). Roughly the same processes led to the destruction of Mir. Its service life was extended until it was possible to somehow patch up the damage, “explained Alexander Semyonov, head of the Department of Physical Electronics and Technology at ETU” LETI “.
According to him, the process of the appearance of new cracks on the ISS is inevitable and irreversible – the station has almost exhausted its resource.
“The properties of tired metal can be restored only by melting it down. Thus, it is necessary to completely replace the entire body of the ISS emergency module, which is impossible, ”the expert believes.
There may be several cracks in the Zvezda module casing that have caused an air leak on the ISS. This became known from the negotiations of the astronauts, which NASA broadcast on February 24.
Read more in the exclusive material of Izvestia:
Old as “Mir”: scientists believe that it is impossible to repair the ISS hull