The ISS's biggest "safety risk" is a leak that has been going on for five years, according to NASA's review

A long-standing leak is the biggest “safety risk” affecting the plan to keep astronauts aboard the International Space Station until 2030, a new NASA audit has found.

The affected area, located in the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS), has been leaking for five years and poses no immediate threat to astronauts, NASA officials said. “No impact on crew safety or vehicle operations at the moment, but something everyone should be aware of,” ISS program manager Joel Montalbano said in February 2024, when the leak fell from a historic low of 0.2 to 2.4 Pounds per day increased pounds per day.

Two months later, however, the leak increased 50% to 3.7 pounds per day, NASA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) said in a new report released Sept. 26. There are “persistent cracks and air leaks” in this Russian module. NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos are currently under investigation by NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, the report said. But officials warned that the aging ISS requires several measures to maintain operations at least until the complex's planned decommissioning in 2030.

NASA officials recently said the leak remained manageable, noting that more recent repair work after April 2024 reduced the all-time high rate by about a third.

“We will continue to work with them [Roscosmos] “To understand the sources of the leak and how they impact the operations of the space station,” Jim Free, NASA deputy administrator, said in a livestreamed briefing on Sept. 27 ahead of the SpaceX Crew-9 astronaut launch ISS, which took place the following day.

Related: How often does the International Space Station have to avoid space debris?

Still, the OIG report notes that the leak in the Russian service module transfer tunnel in the Zvezda module, which was launched in 2000, is emblematic of problems affecting the plan to keep the aging ISS running.

Like any older vehicle, the ISS requires maintenance and repairs, but an additional challenge is its extremely remote location. Anything from problems in the supply chain for repair items to a sudden micrometeoroid impact could pose a critical risk to the ISS, the report said. And as of August 2024, NASA's risk assessment rated the tunnel on a scale of 5, the highest level in its 1-to-5 ranking system.

A diagram of the International Space Station with the service module transfer tunnel label. Russian sections, including the tunnel, are visible in red. A leak from this area rose to a new high of 3.7 pounds per day in April 2024, up from 2.4 pounds per day two months earlier. (Image credit: NASA OIG)

The tunnel leak first occurred in 2019 in an area connecting Zvezda to one of the space station's eight docking ports. The OIG first released a report on the leak in 2021, and since 2022, NASA has regularly reported to its Aerospace Safety Advisory Board on the agency's efforts to address the leak.

The adjustments were ongoing at the time of writing: “NASA and Roscosmos are working together to investigate and mitigate the cracks and leaks, determine the root cause, and monitor the station for new leaks,” the OIG explained. Although a root cause has not yet been identified, “both agencies have narrowed their focus to internal and external welds.”

Roscosmos has stated that they can close the hatch to the service module at any time if the leak becomes “untenable.” However, the OIG noted that NASA and its Russian counterpart have not yet reached agreement on what leak rate poses an untenable threat. The ISS would lose a docking port in this scenario, which “could impact cargo delivery” and would also require “additional fuel to maintain the station's altitude and attitude.” (Russian spacecraft docked at the port periodically fire engines to push the ISS higher in its orbit as Earth's atmosphere slowly pulls the ISS downward over time.)

Aside from the leak, the OIG considered other risks to maintaining the ISS through 2030 and possibly extending it, depending on when NASA-funded commercial space stations are ready to replace the ISS. Commercial experiments in low Earth orbit are a key driver of space station operations, and previous congressional discussions about the ISS have shown that China is poised to corner the global research market should the U.S. fail to maintain an orbiting outpost .

The OIG's recommendations included reviewing space debris tracking practices, assessing how to get crew members to and from the station in the event one of SpaceX's or Boeing's commercial spacecraft fails, and taking other steps to prepare for planned exits the orbit of the ISS.

Earlier this year, SpaceX was selected for a large Dragon spacecraft to deorbit the ISS. The OIG said it is interested in learning more about the costs, timing and risks of technical and planning issues related to the SpaceX vehicle and the overall de-orbit plan.

The ISS's biggest “safety risk” is a leak that has been going on for five years, according to NASA's review

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