There had been a wide gaping hole in NASA’s methods for timely and accurate identification of outer damages to a spacecraft moving about in space until today. The researchers have now developed an innovative technology called ‘sensory skin,’ that is intended to pick up signs of damage to the outer surface of the spacecraft in real-time.
Earlier, the scientists on Earth and astronauts inside the spacecraft were faced a significant challenge for detecting damages via either a camera or the naked eye. Such damages are usually caused by micrometeoroids and minuscule orbital debris which are also traveling at very high speeds as compared to the spacecraft. The particles, as small as gun pellets, can cause substantial damage to the outer hull of the spacecraft during its journey to the Moon or even deep space.
But, these challenges could be eliminated using the ‘Flexible Damage Detection System’ technology, developed by NASA scientists just recently. Informally known as sensory skin, this technology has been prepared using an integration of several technologies. They have used the said method to create low-voltage electric circuits, which can be printed onto thin layers of Kapton thermal insulation film. It is then finally connected to the computer panel, running the required software, to detect even minor changes in charge on the surface of the spacecraft. The same is expected to be immediately displayed on the computer screen.
The largest sensory square panel that the researchers have been to construct till date is about 6 inches by 6 inches large. And they are now engaged in developing an efficient method to integrate these square circuit blocks to form a quilt-like sensory network, which is thin, inflatable, foldable, and expandable. All these features are necessary so that it can easily be wrapped around whole or parts of the spacecraft. The scientists are trying to design the circuits as such, so they can be applied to inflatable and expandable parts of the craft as well.
This innovative new outer skin can definitely help us protect future spacecrafts, satellites, and even large habitable structures on other planets from extensive damages. The sensory skin technology will intimate the astronauts of the minimal of damages, that could prove to be fatal, which can then be fixed immediately to avoid any further damages. This technology would help protect not only the surface of structures in space but also on Earth. The ‘skin’ can be applied on the outside of airplanes to help pilots to detect any damages to the airframe.
