is in very bad condition

The International Space Station, that orbits the earth since 1998it does not go through your best moment. In fact, according to the Security Committee that advises NASA, it is entering a critical phase that threatens to put its last years of life at risk.

Maximum concern. The experts of the Aerospace Security Advisory Panel (ASAP), an independent committee created to advise NASA on security issues, expressed their “deep concern” for the aging orbital station at a public meeting on April 17.

“The International Space Station has entered the riskiest period of its existence,” said Rich Williams, a member of the Committee, According to the SpaceNews chronicle. Williams did not refer to new problems, but to an accumulation of technical problems and budgetary deficits that now pose a critical threat to operations aboard the station.

Cracks that do not close. One of the persistent problems we have covered in Xataka They are the air leaks in the Russian module Zvezda. Specifically, in a small transfer tunnel (called PRK) that connects the main module with an coupling port.

The cracks were detected in 2019, but the air leak has been increasing since then, reaching its highest level in April 2024. Despite the years of joint research between NASA and its Russian counterpart, Roscosmos, there is still no clear solution, or consensus on the root cause of leaks.

A meeting in Moscow. The Committee considers leaks one of the “most concern” points of the ISS, with a Risk level “5 of 5”the most serious of the classification, since August 2024.

Williams said there is a meeting in Moscow this month to discuss new mitigation measures. For now, the space agencies have limited the repairy of the affected tunnel and keep the hatch that connects it with the rest of the station.

Fear of unexpected fall. The current plan is that the International Space Station be withdrawn in 2030 or 2031. NASA has commissioned Spacex The development of a special ship (the USDV) to tow the station to the Pacific, where it will resent the atmosphere safely.

The Security Committee indicates that there is no emergency plan to exorbit the ISS before that this vehicle is ready. “If the exorbitous international space station before Spacex delivers the USDV, the public risk for the disintegrated remains of the ISS will increase several orders of magnitude,” Williams said. Let’s not forget that we talk about a structure of about 450 tons.

Other age aches. To these “main” concerns we must add the lack of spare parts. Keeping enough spare parts for critical systems, such as vital support, becomes increasingly complex, since some components are about 30 years old, and their original suppliers no longer exist.

Similarly, space costumes for extravehicular activities, some designed in the 70s, are also giving problems. In June 2024, A refrigerant leak forced to cancel a space walk for fear of repeating the 2013 incident in which Astronaut Luca Parmitano almost drowned When his helmet began to fill with water.

To these we must add the scares of the spacecraft that supply the station, such as the Boeing Starliner ship failure, the nauseabundo smell detected after the arrival of the MS-29 shipthe delays of the Dream Chaser of Sierra Space and the cancellation of the Mission Cygnus NG-22 of Northrop Grumman for the damages suffered during the transport of the ship.

A matter of money. According to the ASAP panel, all these risks have a common denominator: “a great budget deficit.” Although experts did not detail the exact nature of the deficit, the data shows a slight reduction in the budget of operations and maintenance of the International Space Station (from 1,030 million dollars in 2023 to 993 million in 2024).

Already in its 2024 annual report, the Committee had warned that the costs of the exorbitant vehicle (the USDV) and the financing of future commercial stations could exert pressure on NASA’s capacity to safely carry out the normal and contingency operations of the ISS. Elon Musk proposed as a solution exorbiting it early, in 2027.

Image | POT

In Xataka | “Did you say, from Irigoyen?”: When an Argentine taxi signal sneaked into the International Space Station