Introduction
We all know that the International Space Station is a marvel of engineering and science. But what if you could see inside? That's exactly what NASA astronaut Tim Kopra did on Tuesday when he snapped photos of the ISS during its most recent spacewalk. One very interesting thing he noticed in particular was a patch on his own suit:
NASA and Roscosmos still investigating cause of space station leak
The leak was discovered on August 29, when engineers noticed a 2mm hole in the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft. It's believed to have been caused by a micrometeorite strike and NASA officials say they're still investigating how long it took for this damage to happen.
Because of these findings, NASA has temporarily grounded all Soyuz flights until further notice due to concerns about possible leaks or other problems with their vehicles' safety systems.
Does the patch on the ISS really look like this?
The patch is not a perfect circle, which means the ISS is not perfectly symmetrical. Some people may have wondered if they could use this as proof that space travel is impossible. But it's important to note that while the patch isn't perfectly round, it's still a perfect circle in its own way.
It also doesn't matter how much detail you notice about this image: even if you zoom out far enough and look at something else instead of looking at this particular picture, your brain will still assume there are no gaps between any of those lines because our brains think in terms of shapes rather than numbers or letters; humans have evolved to think visually (as opposed to mathematically).
"I think we're getting closer" to an answer, says the head of the ISS program.
"We're getting closer to an answer," says NASA astronaut and head of the ISS program Scott Kelly.
"What we don't know yet is what caused this leak, but I think it's safe to say that a number of possible causes have been considered and analyzed," he told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday (Dec. 19).
The patch did not solve the problem, but it has helped keep astronauts safe while they wait for more information about how exactly this happened—and how long this will take!
Case closed? No, say Russian investigators.
Russian investigators said that they have not yet found the cause of the leak, but continue to investigate.
The investigation is still ongoing and no conclusions will be made until all information has been gathered, according to Russian space agency Roscosmos.
There is more than one possible cause for the air leak, but it will take time to analyze all of them.
There is more than one possible cause for the air leak, but it will take time to analyze all of them. The investigation is ongoing and there are many possible causes for this event, so we want to be patient before making any conclusions about what happened or how it happened.
The ISS has multiple modules and each one must be analyzed separately by NASA and Roscosmos scientists in order to determine whether or not they were leaking air at the same time as another module's leak was identified by our team on Earth-based analysis using tools like infrared thermography which can detect tiny amounts of heat coming from inside a structure without needing direct contact with it (such as via cameras mounted inside). This process is being conducted remotely from Russia where Roscosmos' crew members have been working around-the-clock since last week when they first discovered signs that something may not have been right within their station; however due to limited bandwidth available between Russia & USA at present time due mainly because most links between both locations are down due mainly due lack equipment failure where rocket engines failed during launch accident earlier this year resulting in loss control over situation until recovery operation later tonight when astronauts will return safely home after five days away
Conclusion
The best we can tell now is that there was an air lea
k, and the cause of it is not yet clear. We know that an investigation into what happened is ongoing, and as soon as we know more about how long it will take for us to get answers, we'll let you know!
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