Russian Satellite Communications reported at 21:50 on December 16 that the temperature of the Russian "Soviet MS-22" spacecraft docked on International Space Station has risen to nearly 50 degrees Celsius due to a refrigeration system failure. Russian Space Group experts are studying cooling methods!
Previously, The Russian Space Administration and NASA issued a notice at the same time stating that the Russian spacecraft was hit by meteorite or space garbage, and a large amount of coolant is leaking, and it happened to be facing a high β inclination angle, which was exposed to the sun for 5 consecutive days. It has warned the spacecraft that the high temperature or cannot be controlled. Next, is the International Space Station going to prepare for space rescue? The culprit of the impact of
: is it micrometeorite or space garbage
Moscow time at around 5:20 on December 15, Russian astronauts Prokopiev and Pertel were preparing to walk in space. After they had already worn their bodies, they stayed in the Poisk cabin and will start the pressure balance work, but at this time they were interrupted by an diagnostic system alarm issued on MS-22.
Outer cabin operation was suspended, and NASA and Russian Space Agency experts held an emergency meeting to discuss the subsequent further actions. Then, the warning information data was analyzed to confirm that the coolant pressure of the MS-22 spacecraft was reduced. After that, NASA discovered through the surveillance of the outboard camera that the coolant leaked on the MS-22 was very serious, and a large amount of snowflake-like substance was spreading into space.
The Russian Space Agency then confirmed that the outside of the cabin was cancelled. In order to determine the severity of the problem, Russian astronaut Anna Kikina took a photo using the camera on the European ERA robot arm of the science cabin and took a video of the outer layer of the spacecraft. The data has been sent back to Earth and experts have begun to study images to assess damage.
was indeed damaged and caused leakage
late at night on December 15th. Russian Satellite News Agency reported that Executive Director of the manned space program of the Russian Space Group Sergei Krikarev said on the 215th that the leakage of the MS-22 spacecraft docked on the International Space Station may be caused by the micrometeorite hitting the radiator, and the impact is limited to the temperature of the instrument cabin.
Currently experts are analyzing that the instrument cabin and spacecraft may be affected and check thermal balance . Based on the analysis results, measures will be taken for the next flight plan . ” Krikalev added that the telemetry parameters of the Soyuz spacecraft and the International Space Station have not changed any other changes, and astronauts are not at risk.
What exactly hit the spacecraft?
The Russian Space Administration has officially stated that it was a micrometeorite impact, and at around 17:44 pm on the 15th, the sky was paddled over Zhejiang, my country. After a dazzling light, a fire meteor crossed the sky and disappeared on the horizon. After that, villagers from Chengtou Village, Tanxi Town, Pujiang County, Jinhua picked up a meteorite that landed on the roadside. This meteorite also smashed a pit on the road. Is there any relationship between the micrometeorite that hit the Russian MS-22 spacecraft?
What shocked everyone was that December The 14th to 15th are exactly the period of Gemini meteor shower ! Everyone knows the causes of meteor shower . Basically, when the earth is traveling through the dust belt "sprayed" along the comet around the sun, these micrometeor bodies enter the atmosphere and become a meteor passing through the sky under the heating of the hypersonic shock wave.
These streams The velocity of celestial body is extremely high because it is a celestial body from the solar system. Its speed when it rushes into the atmosphere is at least the second cosmic velocity , that is, it is around 11 kilometers/sec. However, because the angle and direction are different, its speed will be very different. For example, in reverse direction with the orbit of Earth orbit, the speed may be as high as 70 kilometers/sec. If it is in a direction, the speed may be as low as 11 kilometers/sec.
But even the lowest speed can definitely make the International Space Station feel refreshed. Fortunately, there are basically no ground-falling meteors in the meteor shower like the ones that land on the Pujiang River in Jinhua. This kind of fire meteor is usually occasional, but the micrometeorites hitting the MS-22 spacecraft may indeed come from the Gemini meteor shower, which is quite likely.
The current public news is that a micrometeorite hits the radiator, which is a radiator that brings heat from the spacecraft instrument compartment to the surface of the spacecraft through heat exchange medium and emits through radiation. It is not reinforced. It only requires an extremely small micrometeorite to penetrate through, which can cause coolant leakage.
A aluminum block hit by a 14 grams of plastic at a relative speed of 6.7kms (24000kmh)
If it is a little bigger, it will probably penetrate the outer shell of the spacecraft. This impact is very terrible! However, some experts have expressed different opinions. The area where the International Space Station is located happens to be located in the debris cloud area of Russia's anti-satellite test in 2021, and it is also possible to be impacted by extremely small fragments that are not monitored.
Debris distribution during Russian anti-satellite test in 2021
But there has been no result so far. The author believes that the micrometeorites entrained in the Gemini meteor shower are very likely. After all, the radiator is very fragile, and the damage of the micrometeorites in the meteor shower is enough to cause serious accidents.
high temperature cannot be controlled? How to operate space rescue on the International Space Station?
On December 16, NASA announced that it will use the Canadian Arm2 robot arm to conduct additional inspections on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that leaked to confirm the leakage point and the severity of the impact. Late at night on the night of
16, Russian sources said that the temperature of the Russian "Soviet MS-22" spacecraft cabin connected to on the International Space Station has risen to nearly 50 degrees Celsius due to a refrigeration system failure, and experts from the Russian Aerospace Group are studying cooling methods.
. According to another source, due to the malfunction of the spacecraft temperature control system that regulates the temperature and humidity in the cabin, the instruments and equipment on the Soyuz spacecraft may not work properly or even completely fail. What's even more troublesome is that due to the failure of , the "Soviet MS-23" spacecraft launch mission, which was originally scheduled to be carried out in March next year, may be postponed.
High β angle operation: The sun is exposed to the sun for 5 consecutive days
It is not a coincidence that the International Space Station has been exposed to the sun for continuous days these days because it has reached the high β angle operation! It may be difficult for many friends to understand this state. Isn’t this orbiting the earth half a circle of day or half a circle of night? This is true most of the time, but it runs about twice a year when the entire circle is exposed to the sun, and this time it takes 5 consecutive days!
There are several ways to get the spacecraft in space exposed to the sun. One is to build a " sunshade " to block the sun. This is how the Sky Laboratory did it back then. The other is to use the electricity energy of the solar cell to exchange the heat outside the cabin and then dissipate heat through radiation.
Now the coolant of the MS-22 spacecraft has been leaked. Even with electricity, it cannot support the heat dissipation of the spacecraft. The best way is to adjust the angle of the solar cell to block the MS-22 spacecraft from being exposed to the sun. However, in fact, this problem is difficult to deal with because the solar cell angle is limited.
Of course, there is another way to open the docking door between the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft and the International Space Station, connect it with the International Space Station, and cool it down through the "air conditioner" of the International Space Station. This is also a feasible move. However, the cooling of electronic equipment is not easy to operate, but if it is not good, you can always turn off the machine. Now that the MS-22 spacecraft is docked by the International Space Station, it seems that there is no big problem if it is not opened.
Emergency evacuation of space station : Russian Space Agency space rescue?
Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft is the main spacecraft for ground-to-ground space stations. Although there are currently SpaceX manned dragon spacecraft , most of the time, Soyuz spacecraft is responsible for the round-trip mission of heaven and earth. Starting from June this year, the United States and Russia signed an agreement to exchange seats. NASA and the Russian Space Agency sent astronauts to each other from each other's spacecraft to fly into the sky, which lacked the embarrassing things like Mark Van der Hei returned from space to the ground at the end of March this year, and NASA had to pay US dollars and Russia had to collect rubles.
Currently there are 7 astronauts on the space station, namely three Russian astronauts, three American astronauts and one Japanese astronaut. They travel to the space station on two spacecraft:
Among them, Russian astronauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin and American astronaut Frank Rubio were launched from Baikonur Space Launch Site on September 21, 2022 to arrive at the space station. American astronauts Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian astronaut Anna Kikina took off from the Kennedy Space Center to the space station on October 5, 2022.
Soyuz spacecraft: Can it still hold on?
Although the Soyuz spacecraft is just a coolant leakage, the problem is still relatively serious. If it is just a cooling chamber of instruments and equipment, then the electronic equipment may generate high temperatures during the work process, causing unstable or even serious failures. At this time, the spacecraft is no longer suitable for manned operation because it may be in an unstable working state at any time.
Another is that the internal temperature control of the spacecraft belongs to the same cooling system as the cooling of electronic equipment, so the problem is even more serious. The temperature of the crew cabin rises and cannot cool down. People are prone to heatstroke or even coma, and the return time is as long as 3 to 6 hours. If an accident occurs, it may even be 1 to 2 days, and the Soyuz spacecraft will not be able to sit.
Emergency rescue? Originally, SpaceX's Dragon Spaceship can handle
. At present, the International Space Station is not in danger. Even if the spacecraft is damaged, it will not affect the safety of astronauts! But if there is another impact at this time, it is likely that the space station will be evacuated urgently. Many friends may doubt whether this is possible. In fact, in July 2015, debris had occurred and all astronauts (Gennady Padalka, Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko) were urgently evacuated into the two Soyuz spacecraft that were anchored.
So the question is, how to allocate the seats of the spacecraft? Three American astronauts and one Japanese astronaut took a dragon spacecraft, and then three Russian astronauts returned on their own "broken spacecraft"? Obviously this is very unreasonable. The more reasonable way is to take the original spaceship seat, because each seat is customized for astronauts!
But no matter how you allocate, there are always 3 astronauts who will be assigned to the "breaking spaceship"! But in fact, it doesn't need to be that trouble, because SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft has 7 seats. From a theoretical perspective, there is no problem with bringing 7 astronauts back to the ground.
7 spacecraft: Why only ride on 4 people
manned dragon spacecraft is SpaceX's manned version of Dragon Spacecraft. Its design spacecraft is unique. The escape rocket is on the side and is used as an escape rocket when it fails to launch, and is used as a landing buffer rocket when it returns to land. However, NASA has canceled this design due to safety requirements, but SpaceX may once again enable a very excellent total in the future.
Dragon spacecraft weighs about 9.5 tons, with a load of up to 6 tons, a diameter of 4 meters, a height of 8.1 meters, a pressurized chamber of 9.3 cubic meters, and a crew of 7 people. However, NASA's mission is only allowed to carry 4 people. The reason is that after SpaceX designed the layout, NASA believed that the seat angle of the Dragon spacecraft was problematic, which may cause serious impact on the astronauts when splashed down. Therefore, NASA asked to change the seat design, which made the original 7-seat Dragon spacecraft have to be able to put down four seats and can only ride 4 people.
7-person version of spaceship cockpit
However, SpaceX is not willing to give up. If it weren't for NASA's mission, the radical Musk would likely re-activate the 7-person system, but the Dragon spacecraft on the space station can only ride 4 people, so there are really 3 astronauts on the International Space Station that have nowhere to go.
4-man version
emergency rescue: The only problem is the time-saving
According to the convention of manned spacecraft launches in the space station, it is generally one spacecraft for launch, and the next one is used as a backup. Both spacecraft have been produced. In addition, at the Baikonur launch site, the Soyuz rockets are also in stock, but it must be understood that this is not a hot backup, that is, it cannot be ready for launch at any time. It must be pushed to the launch pad, refuel and conduct all test items, and then launch.
Take the preparation time for the emergency rescue of the Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft is about 8.5 days as an example. The launch preparation time for Soyuz will not be short. I believe that SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft cannot be hot-supported. Therefore, if you really encounter an emergency, you need to return immediately, and the spacecraft is not enough, which is really a big problem. The only way may be to ask the Chinese for help.
extended reading: The temperature returns to normal
Russian Satellite News Agency reported at 22:22 on December 16 that the temperature in the living compartment of the "Soviet MS-22" manned spacecraft dropped to 30 degrees Celsius. Although it is a bit high, it is still within the normal range:
"On Friday, the flight management center of in Moscow Prefecture and astronauts from the International Space Station conducted a series of tests on the Soyuet MS-22 manned spacecraft, including measuring the temperature of the spacecraft's living area (return capsule and living compartment). The current temperature reaches 30 degrees Celsius. The temperature drop is not large."
In addition, Russian State Space Corporation experts also successfully tested the engine of the "Soviet MS-22" spacecraft at 16:08 on the 16th (Beijing time), and no problems were found yet.
December 17, Russian Satellite News Agency reported that experts from the Russian Space Agency believed that the "Soviet MS-22" spacecraft, which leaked the cooling system, did not have a reason to return to Earth from the International Space Station. However, the announcement of the Russian Space Agency did not dispel everyone's doubts. Will this cooling system affect the return process?
