Its also unfair to assume the laws of chemistry and physics simply stop for metal once it reaches delivery for private space like Axiom as well.
AndrijaSucevic on
To be fair, ISS also had its share of degradation issues – leaks, contaminations, etc. and it’s still operating nominally.
I’ve personally seen instruments where non space grade adhesives led to outgassing that contaminated optics and required periodic decontamination. I’ve also seen integration issues like cables being mislabled and incorrectly connected, only to discover in orbit that the antenna doesn’t work (up to 90% degradation)…
Finding corrosion on the ground is actually good and fixable.
![[Ars Technica] Well, this is embarrassing: The Lunar Gateway's primary modules are corroded](https://www.ufofeed.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/swXTffcewtCzt1iq2KWmtGfep4fpGenUvNeGzejixQQ-1024x576.jpeg "[Ars Technica] Well, this is embarrassing: The Lunar Gateway’s primary modules are corroded")
3 Comments
Just oxygen doing oxygen things
Shocking, a tropical salt air environment has been a battle against rust on vacuum rated surfaces for NASA for decades? /s
[https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20150022202/downloads/20150022202.pdf](https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20150022202/downloads/20150022202.pdf)
Its also unfair to assume the laws of chemistry and physics simply stop for metal once it reaches delivery for private space like Axiom as well.
To be fair, ISS also had its share of degradation issues – leaks, contaminations, etc. and it’s still operating nominally.
I’ve personally seen instruments where non space grade adhesives led to outgassing that contaminated optics and required periodic decontamination. I’ve also seen integration issues like cables being mislabled and incorrectly connected, only to discover in orbit that the antenna doesn’t work (up to 90% degradation)…
Finding corrosion on the ground is actually good and fixable.