Materials aging in space is a pretty deep subject. That it is the Russian Zvevda module that is leaking/cracking is likely related to the fact that it is also the oldest module in the ISS.<p>The ISS is/was scheduled to be retired in 2024 (aka 3 years from now) but there are calls to keep it going. My fantasy would be to have SpaceX move it into the Lunar L1 Lagrange point which would keep it in use but it would have to deal with more cosmic rays, also station keeping would be an issue unless we could really get energized tether station keeping to work (lots of solar energy to provide power, but not a lot of mass to provide thrust, so tethers are energized conductors that push against the Earth's magnetic field)<p>Parking it in L4 or L5 could keep it for future generations but it would be even more of a challenge to go visit.
I burst into laughter reading the Russian's quotes. I love how casual the astronaut is about it!<p>I'm no astronaut but I wouldn't be sleeping with crack in my hull, leaking air.
As a person that's previously owned a Zodiac-type boat, I really wonder what an ISS patch kit looks like.<p>What sort of adhesives, covering materials, chemicals and application stuff do they have on hand for quick "we need to stop air escaping through this hole NOW" type situations?<p>Obviously the problem is sort of reversed, if you have a leaky zodiac you're patching it from the outside and trying to stop air escaping into the atmosphere. If you have a leaky ISS module you're inside it, and applying some sort of quick-setting malleable chemical goop into a hole that's sucking your air outwards...
I wonder if radiation will become an issue at some point. It is being irradiated all the time, doesn’t it also start to leak inside? Can that be an issue in the future for inhabitable objects in space?
I'd hate to see all that material/equipment burn up in the atmosphere. How much would it be worth just as an orbiting junkpile for scavenging by new projects?
I think it’s time to junk the ISS. It’s outlived its usefulness. It’s now in old age, and has outlived its design parameters.<p>I think it’s time to build a rotating space station.<p>We’ve got all the knowledge from a microgravity space station, as we’re going to get. The conclusion is that it sucks. Humans are not meant to live in space without gravity. The muscle and bone deterioration is too great. And the eye damage is too great.<p>We need gravity. The question is whether we can get it from centripetal acceleration instead, to provide a long term habitation in space for humans.
Not a big space person, but this makes me wonder: why have we not planned for a new ISS? We must have better tech nowadays from all the working countries/groups currently involved, plus SpaceX and other space companies' backing that would not have existed as it does now back when this ISS was first designed/created.