As early as the 14th of this month, the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft suddenly ejected coolant . Judging from the live footage exposed by NASA, the coolant was sprayed into space. It was highly toxic and dangerous, and it also made the astronauts feel distressed. No, as the incident continued to develop, the following developments were revealed: On 016, relevant people said that the temperature of the "Soyuz MS-22" spacecraft was out of control and reached 50°C; on 018, experts from the Russian Space Agency said that it would take at least a month to launch the rescue spacecraft; on 019, Russian experts said that the "Soyuz MS-22" spacecraft had been determined The exact location of the damage to the S-22 spacecraft was determined to be a leaking hole with a diameter of 0.8 mm at the impact location; on the 21st, the Russian Satellite News Agency reported that the 0.8 mm hole leaked all light within 3 hours with 44 liters of refrigerant at 3 atmospheric pressures; on the 22nd, the Russian Aerospace Group stated that in order to avoid space debris, the "Progress MS-20" cargo spacecraft urgently towed the International Space Station.
At this moment, when everyone was discussing why the United States and Russia were standing still, a Russian space official finally relented at a press conference and revealed the next step: the rescue Soyuz spacecraft will not arrive at the International Space Station until February. So, what exactly is going on?
The rescue Soyuz spacecraft will not arrive at the International Space Station until February. Why not set off earlier and faster?
According to Sergey Krikalev, head of the "Yuri Gagarin" cosmonaut training center near Moscow, , said at a live NASA press conference, according to the original plan, the next crew of the International Space Station is scheduled to fly in March 2023. If the three crew members of the International Space Station are indeed trapped, there are also plans to launch a new Soyuz spacecraft on the ground to rescue them.
However, according to Krikalev, the rescue spacecraft can only be launched a little ahead of the March flight plan. At present, about two or three weeks in advance is the most that can be done. It is worth mentioning that according to the launch plan for the next batch of astronauts, the exact time should be around mid-March next year. According to this latest statement, it will be two to three weeks in advance, which means that it will not be launched to the space station until about mid-to-late February or close to the end of February.
For the International Space Station, the Soyuz spacecraft is actually equivalent to the role of my country's Shenzhou spacecraft . It is not only the "cockpit" of the astronauts, but also the "escape cabin" of the astronauts. It plays a vital role in "guard" and "second life channel". So why is there no rush to launch a new rescue spaceship early when such an emergency occurs?
In fact, from the perspective of Rubik's Cube, there are mainly the following reasons. First of all, although the 0.8 mm small hole has been found, there are various reasons why it was caused. Some said it was due to the impact from space junk, while other news suggested that it might have been left behind in advance, which is to say that it was a problem with the manufacturing process. Launching again before the cause is clearly investigated will obviously not prevent similar incidents from happening again.
Secondly, in fact, this decision is also based on Russia and NASA's assessment of the leaked Soyuz spacecraft situation. It is a transitional and helpless choice at this stage. Although nearly 50 liters of refrigerant are currently leaking, the refrigerant itself is designed to have a surplus. It remains to be evaluated whether the remaining amount of refrigerant and the condition of the Soyuz itself can support the three astronauts to get home safely.
Finally, in terms of cost. According to relevant statistics, the cost of a single Shenzhou spacecraft in my country is 850 million yuan.
The cost of the Soyuz spacecraft is US$23.33 million. Taking into account the minimum cost of the launch rocket of US$15 million, and including related logistics costs, the cost is nearly US$60 million, which is about 420 million yuan. If another one is launched, then a space operation will cost double the amount. Obviously, if it is not very necessary, there will be no such choice to directly replace the launch with a new one.
my country’s space rescue took the fastest 8.5 days! Should I help?
It is worth mentioning that in addition to the heated discussion about whether to replace the rescue spacecraft with a new one to rescue the three astronauts in space, the radiation time of the rescue spacecraft has also been criticized by many netizens. Previously, it was based on previous relevant information, indicating that it would take at least 30 days. The latest news released this time indicates that it will take until February. According to a more precise time period, it has reached mid-to-late February and is close to the end of the month. This has aroused many people's discussions.
According to a previous report by Singapore's "Lianhe Zaobao", my country's Shenzhou 13 was being launched at the time, and the Shenzhou 14 had entered emergency launch status. If there was an emergency, it could rush to the sky for rescue in as soon as 8.5 days. Yes, and China Aerospace are so awesome. So why does our country only need 8.5 days, while foreign Soyuz rescue spacecraft need to use "month" as the basic unit?
In fact, this point is very simple to understand, that is, our country's Shenzhou spacecraft is always prepared, usually developed in advance, and enters emergency launch status almost at the same time. Take the situation when my country's Shenzhou 15 and were launched. At that time, official media stated that the final assembly and testing of Shenzhou 16 had been completed, and the final assembly and testing of Shenzhou 17 and Shenzhou 18 were also in progress simultaneously.
The International Space Station has existed for decades and generally has its own regular evacuation spacecraft. Therefore, the level of support for its emergency spacecraft is naturally not as high as that of our country. And as far as our country is concerned, the life safety of astronauts is the first priority, so its emergency support time of 8.5 days is an extreme situation. Naturally, other countries in the world cannot catch up with our country in terms of support level and frequency of spacecraft launches.
So should we help? It is reported that according to China’s next major aerospace project, a scientific research station will be built on the moon. By then, whether it is the Chinese Space Station or the Lunar Research Station , all countries are welcome to participate in cooperation. It is obviously an irreversible trend for China and Russia to jointly conduct scientific research. So based on long-term cooperation, should we help? It seems that Rubik's Cube should still be cautious.
First of all, the United States and Russia have begun to take action. There is absolutely no need to volunteer to do thankless things. After all, it is not yet known whether they are asking for help and paying rescue costs normally. Secondly, the president of Russian Aerospace Group recently also stated that the United States recommends that Russian astronauts return to the ground on American spacecraft. Therefore, from this perspective, it has not yet reached the point where my country’s rescue is needed.
Generally speaking, although our country has the capability of space rescue, the current leaked assessment of the Soyuz and how Russia will choose are not yet clear, so it is too early to talk about whether rescue should be carried out. What do you think?
