Astronauts on Thursday noticed frozen ammonia flakes leaking from the International Space Station, though NASA said the issue poses no immediate threat to the crew. A lot can\u2014and apparently will\u2014go wrong when you\u2019re thousands of miles from Earth, especially with such complicated systems involved. The coolant, which is used to cool down the ISS\u2019s power systems on its right solar array panels, first began leaking back in 2007. But the issue was finally fixed\u2014or so they thought\u2014back in 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is in the same area, but we don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s the same leak,\u201d NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries of the Johnson Space Center in Houston said. Right now the issue hasn\u2019t had a negative affect, but if left unfixed, the station could lose its ability to cool whichever solar array is leaking. Mission Control predicts the leaking loop to shut down within 24 hours should no action be taken. Potential fixes are currently being discussed.<\/p>\n
One possible move could be to move the station\u2019s robotic arm over to the station\u2019s port truss. The first leak back in 2007 was traced back to Port 6 truss,\u00a0NBCNews<\/i>\u00a0said. Interestingly, space station commander Chris Hadfield, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut, said the rate of the leak varies \u201cdepending on the orientation of the station to the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the crew is in no imminent danger, three members\u2014Chris Hadfield, Tom Marschburn and Roman Romanenko\u2014are planned to depart the ISS on Monday, May 13. That leaves only three members onboard to address the problem. However, three new members are expected to launch to the ISS on May 28.<\/p>\n
More information will be provided to the crew soon, hopefully pinpointing the leak\u2019s exact origin.<\/p>\n