The rim of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that landed on the International Space Station (ISS) has a small hole in it, an inspection has found.
The cool Soyuz launch took place on Wednesday night (Dec. 14), when two cosmonauts prepared to walk outside the lab to perform an orbit (which was soon released). In those days, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos tried to pin down the cause and consequences of the leak, with some help from its ISS partners.
This assistance includes inspecting the suspected leak area on the Soyuz using cameras mounted on the station’s massive Canadarm2 robotic arm. That survey, which wrapped up on Sunday (Dec. 18), provided some valuable clues, NASA announced on Monday (Dec. 19).
“A small hole was observed and the surface of the radiator around the hole showed discoloration,” NASA officials wrote in a Monday afternoon blog post. (Opens in a new tab). “Roscosmos is evaluating the images to determine if this hole could have come from micrometeoroid debris or if it was one of the pre-made radiator wind holes.”
Related: Soyuz Leak Could Put 3 Astronauts On Space Station, Expert Warns
Debris impact is one of the prominent Soyuz-leak hypotheses. a Russian scientist floated the idea in an interview with the state media TASS a few days ago, for example.
Soyuz, known as MS-22, carried cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio up to the ISS in September. Wheat is scheduled to fly to Earth in March.
Roscosmos is currently evaluating whether the vehicle, which apparently has no coolant left, will be up to the task. Consultation is expected by the end of the month.
If MS-22 is deemed flight-worthy, another Soyuz will launch from the Russia-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to bring Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio home, Russian space officials said.
The Soyuz is one of only two spacecraft that currently fly astronauts to and from the ISS, along with SpaceX’s Dragon Crew capsule.
Another taxi astronaut should join that fleet soon, however. Boeing’s unmanned Starliner capsule conducted a test flight to the orbiting lab in May and is scheduled to fly astronauts there for the first time in April.
Mike Wall is the author of “There you go (Opens in a new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018, illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (Opens in a new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (Opens in a new tab) or * Facebook (Opens in a new tab).
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