Russian cosmonauts find new cracks in ISS module

[K'Tesh]

This doesn't sound good...

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/s...b2RWOMGtgRIwpWeb2prYHK9NNvjL-I9JDoZNeHo3qjNYQ

 

[Funkworks]

 

[Bill S]

Some Duct Tape will fix that right up.

 

[boomtube-mk2]

Some Duct Tape will fix that right up.

Duct Tape can fix anything except stupid.

 

[dhbarr]

Are they going to dash together another conspiracy involving hysterical females?

 

[afadeev]

Are they going to dash together another conspiracy involving hysterical females?

Probably.
There are no drill bits in mother Russia. If someone drilled a hole in an Russian ISS module, it must have been an American.

Russian parts of ISS are falling apart. Both old as well as the new ones.
It's only a matter of time before we will need to either jettison Russian components, or abandon the ISS boondoggle altogether.

 

[Alan15578]

Probably.
There are no drill bits in mother Russia. If someone drilled a hole in an Russian ISS module, it must have been an American.

Russian parts of ISS are falling apart. Both old as well as the new ones.
It's only a matter of time before we will need to either jettison Russian components, or abandon the ISS boondoggle altogether.

Sell it to China as fixer-upper.

 

[kuririn]

 

[OverTheTop]

JB Weld and some silicone RTV. Job done right.

 

[Sooner Boomer]

Realisticly, what DO you fix it with? Remember, you're in a big can. One person farts, and everybody knows who did it, and hates them. You've got to live with whatever outgasses from the goop you put on the crack for a LONG time*! So, no silicone RTV (acetic acid), no epoxy (urea), no CA glues (toxic/noxious vapor), basically, no solvent-based glue or adhesive. No catalyst-cured glue or adhesive that outgasses. Bubble gum might work; it seals the crack, stays (fairly) flexible at room temp, and will freeze solid in cold or zero pressure. Just make sure it's not Juicy Fruit, or cinnamon, or clove, or...

*no, no pun intended

 

[OverTheTop]

Duct tape is looking good.

 

[David Schwantz]

Gorilla tape is way betterer!

 

[Donnager]

Realisticly, what DO you fix it with? Remember, you're in a big can. One person farts, and everybody knows who did it, and hates them. You've got to live with whatever outgasses from the goop you put on the crack for a LONG time! So, no silicone RTV (acetic acid), no epoxy (urea), no CA glues (toxic/noxious vapor), basically, no solvent-based glue or adhesive. No catalyst-cured glue or adhesive that outgasses. Bubble gum might work; it seals the crack, stays (fairly) flexible at room temp, and will freeze solid in cold or zero pressure. Just make sure it's not Juicy Fruit, or cinnamon, or clove, or...

Juicy fruit wouldn't be bad.

Clove or cinnamon scented repairs would be wrong.

 

[boomtube-mk2]

I remember when the ISS was first being developed and all the promises being made as to the research and development that would take place in the micro-gravity environment and all the new and exciting medicines and materials etc. that would result from all that R&D.

So far the only thing they have learned is that humans do very poorly in a micro-gravity environment and there doesn't seem to be any good way to ameliorate those affects; which bodes poorly with regards to a manned mission to Mars.

At this point in time the sole purpose of the ISS appears to be as a place for SpaceX to send stuff too.

 

[afadeev]

Realisticly, what DO you fix it with?

If it's stress fissures on the surface of the module airframe, you don't fix it, you retire it.
I can't find the current layout pics of ISS modules, but this dated map suggests the cracking Zarya module is right next to the air-leaking Zvezda service module. Not sure what, if anything, we would loose by letting both of them go.

I remember when the ISS was first being developed and all the promises being made as to the research and development that would take place in the micro-gravity environment and all the new and exciting medicines and materials etc. that would result from all that R&D.

That was the PR spin.
The primary goal was to employ all the Russian rocket scientists to keep them from selling their services to China, Iran, North Korea, etc. That goal has been mostly accomplished, and there has really been no point in subsidizing Russian space program since about 10+ years ago.

At this point in time the sole purpose of the ISS appears to be as a place for SpaceX to send stuff too.

Yeah, if we ditch ISS, SpaceX will take a big revenue hit.
NASA's 2021 budget either buries ISS costs within $4B "Space Operations" line item, or it may be all of it:
https://www.planetary.org/space-policy/nasas-fy-2021-budget
The article below suggests that NASA assigns $3-4B of OpEx to ISS operations, but there is little break-down of what goes into that number (crew and gear transportation flights? Ops centers stuffing? Pet projects bundled into a "safe" budget category?):
https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/7/18656280/nasa-space-station-private-astronauts-commercial-business

 

[CoyoteNumber2]

So far the only thing they have learned is that humans do very poorly in a micro-gravity environment

At this point in time the sole purpose of the ISS appears to be as a place for SpaceX to send stuff too.

I suspect you're not interested in changing your mind, but for the benefit of other readers:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/iss-20-years-20-breakthroughshttps://artsandculture.google.com/e...-discoveries-from-the-iss-nasa/jALiNXno-k5rIAhttps://www.sciencefocus.com/space/five-things-the-iss-has-done-for-us/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03085-8https://www.voanews.com/science-health/3-new-strains-bacteria-discovered-iss-researchers
Ad infinitum.

 

[Woody's Workshop]

The whole design is WRONG, if you ask me.
They should have stuck with the design of Werner von Braun from back in the day.
His Sat V lives on with historical records and will probably never be forgotten.
Though his space station design doesn't show any solar panels, structurally they could be mounted anywhere.
When I look at the current space station, I wonder how it has lasted this long.
But I'm betting poor quality materials, poor workmanship and lacking of quality control is probably the reason for problems.
As we all know, Schedule runs everything these days, putting everything else behind it.

 

[OverTheTop]

I guess the whole structure is under enormous stresses. Due to its size there are large bending moments if there is any thrusters firing. Add to that the fact that it is orbiting once every 90 minutes thermally cycling the structure on a regular basis in the large temperature differential between illuminated and dark sides. Given it is a space structure it would be built with fairly skinny safety margins to keep the launch mass down too. It does have a finite life. I guess they are getting to the point where the initial life calculations by the engineering team are getting compared to reality for verification. Great information for future projects too.

 

[Peartree]

Yeah, if we ditch ISS, SpaceX will take a big revenue hit.

Not just SpaceX. There a bunch of Canadian and European companies that are making bank on this too. And if I recall correctly, Boeing is taking home considerably more than SpaceX despite not yet having a single successful flight.

 

[DaHabes]

Duct Tape can fix anything except stupid.

But duct tape, epoxy and zip ties can ALMOST fix stupid....

 

[DaHabes]

View attachment 479837

Ah, no, but maybe JB Weld?

 

[Sandy H.]

As I recall, steel can have a stress level that is low enough to bypass low cycle fatigue failure and high cycle fatigue failure and is considered to have an infinite fatigue life, statistically. I believe that aluminum can never get to an infinite fatigue life, statistically, due to strain hardening, but I don't deal with aluminum and just remember learning something like that along the way in my main career. If that is correct, then even in a lab environment, portions of the ISS could be simply getting to their fatigue life and there is nothing unexpected by that.

It seems from a 10 second google search that modules were designed for a 15 year lifespan and Zveda was a 2000 model. Sounds like there is still some safety factor in that design and no nefarious things happening. Then again, the B-52 was probably not supposed to fly into the 2040's when it was designed. In all fairness, I'm not sure how many pounds of aluminum from the original B-52 builds is still flying, as they get regular service. Not as easy to do a skin replacement on the ISS, I suspect.

Sandy.

 

[Ez2cDave]

Ah, no, but maybe JB Weld?

JB Weld could handle the heat, in direct sunlight, BUT, in the shade, the temperature would be hundreds of degrees below zero.

Dave F.