NASA STILL HASN’T FOUND THE DAMN LEAK ON THE SPACE STATION

Deflating

NASA is still struggling to find the leak in its segment of the International Space Station.

The good news is that the air is leaking out of the segment very slowly, and NASA is downplaying the risk. But the bad news is that they still haven’t found it yet — forcing the NASA crew to spend yet another night in the Russian segment of the station.

Fresh Air

The news comes after NASA evacuated its segment of the station late last week, directing its crew to spend the weekend in the Russian segment while the space agency tries to identify and patch the source of the leak.

A little bit of leakage is normal, as NASA has emphasized in both press releases it’s issued about the problem. In fact, it says that it first became suspicious that air was leaking at an elevated level back in September 2019, though it wasn’t able to confirm the issue until recently due to the slow rate of pressure loss.

HISSsssss

By sealing all the segment’s hatches, NASA’s mission control is hoping it can isolate the source of the leak so personnel on the station can patch it up..

INDIA WANTS TO SEND THIS LEGLESS HUMANOID ROBOT INTO SPACE / ISRO

Meet Vyommitra

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has unveiled a legless robot called “Voymmitra” that it wants to send into space on an uncrewed mission later this year. The eerily humanoid robot can reportedly speak two languages, according to Business Insider.

“Vyommitra will simulate human functions, will interact with the environmental control and life-support system,” ISRO chairman K Sivan told the Times of India. “Our robot is like a human, and will be able to do what man can do, although not as extensively,” Sivan added.

Gaganyaan 2022

The humanoid will be launched on the first uncrewed test flight of India’s planned Gaganyaan crewed orbital spacecraft.

“I can be a companion of the astronauts, recognize them and respond to their queries,” Vyommitra can be heard saying in a clip uploaded to Twitter.

But its own movement will be limited.

“It’s called a half humanoid because it doesn’t have legs,” ISRO scientist Sam Dayal told India Today. “It can only bend side wards and forward.”

The Humanoids

The mission is part of India’s greater ambitions to send Indian astronauts to space by 2022 — if all goes according to plan — first announced by prime minister Narendra Modi in 2018.

It wouldn’t be the first time a nation has sent a humanoid robot into space. Russia sent its gunslinging humanoid robot FEDOR to the International Space Station in August