Successfully handled ammonia gas leak on ISS station

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said on May 11 that two astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) had ended a spacewalk lasting more than three hours, completing the task of handling an ammonia gas leak. This gas is used for the cooling system of solar panels - the power source for the ISS.

NASA said that for a year now, astronauts on the ISS have been concerned about ammonia leaks, but at that time the amount of gas lost was only about 2 kg/year.

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

Since May 9, the amount of ammonia gas leaking has suddenly increased, on average every day the solar panel insulation system loses nearly 2kg of ammonia gas.

Astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn were tasked with finding the cause and fixing it. They said a meteorite or some other piece of debris traveling through space could have hit the radiator of the solar panel insulation system, and it could also be the ammonia pump itself, so they replaced the pump.

Ammonia is used in the cooling system of the ISS's power supply. Each solar panel on the ISS has its own cooling system. There are 8 panels on the station with 4 100kg power conversion clusters. This is the main power supply for the entire station.

Restoring power to the ISS saves the crew from having to shut down unnecessary equipment, allowing the ISS to operate at 100% of its design capacity.

Cassidy and Marshburn are both experienced spacewalkers. This was their third spacewalk, the last being in November last year./.

According to (Vietnam+) - VT