Alternative Soyuz to deliver house stranded ISS crew
The Russian space company Roscosmos says it would launch the following scheduled Soyuz – an uncrewed mission – one month early. That’s so it could possibly exchange the leaking Soyuz capsule MS-22, presently docked on the Worldwide Area Station (ISS). That capsule carried three crew members to the ISS final September. However on December 15, 2022, a micrometeoroid – a tiny little bit of rock in space – struck the MS-22. The particle pierced the capsule’s radiator, inflicting it to leak. So, the Soyuz capsule MS-22 has been out of motion, its crew technically stranded till the substitute MS-23 arrives.
The stranded crew members are: Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Demitri Petelin, and American astronaut Frank Rubio.
MS-23 is scheduled to liftoff on February 20, 2023.
Trio of ISS crew members haven’t any trip house
At present, there are seven individuals residing within the Worldwide Area Station. And there are solely 4 out there seats to return house on the four-person SpaceX Dragon crew capsule presently docked on the ISS. So, the early launch of a Soyuz crew capsule isn’t a rescue mission, stated NASA ISS program supervisor Joel Montalbano. He was talking throughout a media briefing held Wednesday morning, January 11, 2023:
We’re not calling it a rescue Soyuz. Proper now, the crew is protected on board the space station. We, by design, have a space station that’s protected as we are able to (make it).
The upcoming mission is just not a rescue, as a result of there’s presently no menace to the protection of the marooned crew members. He stated:
I’m calling it a substitute Soyuz. That is the following Soyuz that was scheduled to fly in March. It’ll simply fly a little bit earlier. From that standpoint, that’s form of what we’re taking a look at, however I’ll let you know there’s no rapid want for the crew to come back house as we speak that every one the programs are working.
The seven crew aboard the ISS make up Expedition 68, which is scheduled to finish in March 2023.
Alternative Soyuz is the most secure choice
Sending up a substitute Soyuz capsule is the most suitable choice to make sure the crew’s well-being throughout re-entry, stated Sergei Krikalev. He’s the chief director for human spaceflight packages at Roscosmos.
He stated techs and engineers at Roscosmos imagine the MS-22 Soyuz will survive returning to Earth. However the atmosphere inside it would show overwhelming for any passengers. Krikalev described the hazard:
If a crew can be there then the temperatures … may very well be in excessive 30s, possibly low 40 levels centigrade. And temperature itself is just not so excessive, however the issue is that in small quantity, humidity may be excessive, and crew might overheat with excessive temperature and excessive humidity. That’s why we aren’t planning to make use of Soyuz in nominal conditions for a great entry.
Roscosmos will likely be counting on the hardiness of its Soviet-era expertise to see the capsule house in a single piece:
Krikalev additional defined:
As for re-entry, we anticipate that possibly we may have some overheating of kit and nonetheless we expect that Soyuz (has) a number of layers of redundancy, and if the pc fails, we’ve got functionality to proceed re-entry mode in analog with analog tools, so we’ve got a number of layers of redundancy, so we expect that Soyuz will return again safely.
15,660 mph meteor prompted leak
After analyzing the leak that began December 15, Roscosmos and NASA imagine a 1mm micrometeor prompted the leak. Touring at breakneck velocity, the minuscule piece of particles pierced the Russian spacecraft, Krikalev stated:
We nonetheless suppose that it’s a micrometeor hit as a result of we’ve got (an) picture of the crater on (the) radiator. And we additionally made an experiment utilizing (a) particular high-velocity gun, and we did (an) experiment making an attempt to hit an aluminum plate with the identical construction with a small particle about 2 millimeters in diameter. And our results of this check utterly coincides with our calculation, so our present idea is that this harm was brought on by a small particle about 1 millimeter in diameter and velocity about 7 kilometers per second.
Which means the tiny rock that hit the Soyuz was shifting at round 15,660 mph (25,202 kph) relative to the ISS. The ISS orbits at a speedy 17,500 mph (28,000 kph) across the Earth.
No means house till March
With the MS-22 Soyuz not space-worthy, the trio it delivered to orbit don’t have a protected technique to get house within the occasion of an emergency. Ought to an evacuation state of affairs come up, the three must attempt their luck with the broken Soyuz.
Arrival of their protected trip house remains to be weeks away, with added delays as soon as it arrives. Krikalev stated:
Proper now, we’re planning to ship it in (the) finish of February, February twentieth really, and often we have to have a few week for a crew handover and shifting all tools from one service (module) to a different if wanted. So at this level we additionally anticipate that we (will) put together and be taught to make use of (the substitute Soyuz for) every week or two after docking of latest Soyuz.
As a result of the three stranded space vacationers are an built-in crew, NASA and Roscosmos have put their heads collectively to search out the most effective answer. For NASA, that meant discovering out if SpaceX may assist:
As part of the evaluation, NASA additionally reached out to SpaceX about its functionality to return extra crew members aboard Dragon if wanted in an emergency, though the first focus is on understanding the post-leak capabilities of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft.
Backside line: An uncrewed Soyuz capsule will fly to the ISS in February to supply a protected means house for a trio of briefly stranded crew members.
