Ammonia leak on the ISS has been successfully contained.

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on May 11 that two astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) had completed a spacewalk lasting more than three hours, successfully addressing an ammonia leak. This gas is used in the cooling system for the solar panels that power the ISS.

NASA says that for the past year, astronauts on the ISS have been concerned about ammonia leaks, but at that time the amount of gas lost was only about 2 kg per year.

Astronauts Chris Cassidy (right) and Tom Marshburn on the ISS have completed a spacewalk to address an ammonia leak.
(Source: AFP/VNA)

Since May 9th, the amount of ammonia gas leaking has suddenly increased, with the insulation system for the solar panels losing an average of nearly 2kg of ammonia gas per day.

Astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn were tasked with finding the cause and fixing it. They determined that a meteorite or some other piece of debris traveling through space may have struck the heat sink of the solar panel insulation system, and that the problem might also lie in the ammonia pump itself, so they proceeded to replace the pump.

Ammonia is used in the cooling system of the ISS's power supply unit. Each solar panel on the ISS has its own cooling system. The station has eight panels with four 100kg power conversion units. This is the main power source for the entire station.

Restoring the power supply to the ISS allows the crew to avoid shutting down unnecessary equipment, enabling the ISS to operate at 100% of its designed capacity.

Cassidy and Marshburn are both experienced astronauts with extensive experience in space travel. This is their third spacewalk, the most recent being last November.

According to (Vietnam+) - VT