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AWildDragon OP t1_jbopuwt wrote

A bit of an editorialized title but I don’t think that many here will read the Russian text in the linked article.

So much for it being a micro meteorite.

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grounded_astronut t1_jboysdp wrote

Google Translate doesn't do a terrible job on it. This seems like the most important paragraph:

​

>If it is really a problem in production, then the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, on which Prokopiev, Petelin and Rubio should return to Earth, could theoretically have a similar defect. A trend can be observed in the amount of time ships spend in orbit prior to leak incidents. Soyuz MS-22 was launched on September 21, and depressurization occurred on December 15. Progress MS-21 went into orbit on October 26, and leaked on February 11. It turns out that both ships lasted about three months. Soyuz MS-23 launched on February 24, and if it's a manufacturing defect, its days of full-time work may expire as early as early summer.
>
>Under these conditions, the earlier launch of Soyuz MS-24, which will allow updating the ISS crew and returning Soyuz MS-23 to Earth, is justified, Izvestia's interlocutors believe.

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mfb- t1_jbp2iaf wrote

We had one replacement, yes, but what about the second replacement?

The nominal Soyuz MS-24 launch is in June, sending three new people up (2*Russia, 1*US, Kononenko could beat the record for total time in space). If this leak pattern holds then MS-23 could develop a problem around late May/early June.

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ferrel_hadley t1_jbpv954 wrote

This screams cutting back on quality control to me. Same issue in three systems means your QA is not focussing resource onto making sure that system is not going to break again. Given Soyuz and Progress have 50 years of flights with relatively few incidents (Soyuz 56 years, Progress 44 years) they are pretty robust so likely could absorb some drop in production standards and quality assurance. But it seems they have cut the bone so fine they are producing the same fault and their teams are not testing enough for it.

The budget for that is now probably floating somewhere in the Black Sea with Rogozins name on it.

The fleet should be grounded for a serious investigation, but there is no way that is going to happen politically.

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ICLazeru t1_jbqodbp wrote

So if I read that right...they've just been making them wrong this whole time.

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[deleted] t1_jbqjddj wrote

[removed]

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Zealousideal-Box-297 t1_jbrsc6t wrote

ISS is so close to end of life that probably won't happen but NASA must absolutely exclude Russia from any post ISS projects like lunar gateway. JAXA and ESA are reliable partners, we don't owe India anything, China is only interested in ripping as much IP as possible while playing catch up, and Russia is losing spaceflight capability in real time and can't be trusted any more.

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[deleted] t1_jbt1eqv wrote

[removed]

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EventAccomplished976 t1_jc6ef0h wrote

In the 90s the russians were the only ones with actual experience flying long term missions in space, the cooperation started with them allowing NASA astronauts to visit Mir. It was an exchange, not just a goodwill gesture, that was just how the ISS was sold to the US congress.

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CautiousRice t1_jbs7er9 wrote

Russian Federation turns its space forces to ground forces.

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sweetdick t1_jbpyqwr wrote

I wouldn’t get in that leaky, duck tape, death trap of a shitcan for all the money in the fucking world.

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Fillsfo t1_jbzve4x wrote

Anyone who has manufactured complex systems knows that one of the benefits of serial production is that problems tend to repeat until you find and solve the root cause

I'm not saying this isn't a defect their qc system would have caught in the past but it is possible the root cause is some new failure mode the system is currently unable to catch.

I would not berate the Russian engineers until the facts come out

Do recall that we lost two space shuttles, one due to a management error launching when too cold. But the other was lost due to complacency. Seeing huge chunks of ice falling away and no problem resulting from it was a huge miss

I expect engineers around the world do their best on these things. Most really care. The tougher one is management. They are budget and time constrained and often not knowledgeable engineers. It is way easier to make the wrong call in these cases

As an engineer in the US who started out in aerospace, I'm astonished at how well the US and Russian space communities have held together given the world situation. It must be very difficult to collaborate effectively but they seem to be doing it much better than I would have hoped.

I recommend we cut them some slack and let them do their jobs with less heckling. They are all people like you and me.

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This_Environment_883 t1_jbq2mf3 wrote

Um design flaw? What about the burn marks it was hit by something small and fast. very odd that two leaks…..and a leaky nordsteam….design flaw their too?

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Arvedul t1_jbqllq6 wrote

I think I was discoloured by leaking coolant

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