Spacecraft, Heal Thyself

carpdeus writes "The European Space Agency, citing the fact that we don't glue ourselves together when we nick ourselves, has funded a study toward creating a spacecraft that could fix itself. By replacing a few of the fibers in the resinous material that make up a spacecraft's skin with hollow fibers containing adhesive, the material has a chance to fix itself when it encounters minor damage, much the way our skin does when blood wells up and clots. While admittedly years away, such material makes longer duration missions a possibility."

Comments

Self-Healing Metal

[Adeptus_Luminati]

They'd save themselves a lot of time & money, if they just asked the DND to let them research the makeup of self-healing metal found in Roswell

"I happened to notice when I put that piece of foil in that box, and the damn thing just started unfolding and just flattened out. Then I got to playing with it. I'd fold it, crease it, lay it down and it'd unfold. It's kinda wierd. I couldn't tear it. The color was in between tinfoil and lead foil, about the thickness of lead foil."

From: http://www.qsl.net/w5www/roswell.html
(about 1/2 way down - use CTRL+F)

Adeptus

Fifty years of sci-fi get rewritten

[Jim in Buffalo]

A pretty standard sci-fi image will be tossed on its head... how many books, tv shows, and movies have featured spaceships in the future being repaired, often by a robot or by someone in a spacesuit outside the ship? If the ship can heal itself without the intervention of the crew, well, that changes things.

After a minor auto-repair

[truthsearch]

Following a spacecraft healing itself:

Kent Brockman: Well, this reporter was...possibly a little hasty earlier and would like to...reaffirm his allegiance to this country and its human president. May not be perfect, but it's still the best government we have. For now.
[notices "HAIL ANTS" sign taped up, tears it down]
Oh, yes, by the way, the spacecraft still in extreme danger, may not make it back, attempting risky reentry, bla bla bla bla bla bla. We'll see you after the movie.

Oh shit...

[Ostien]

Will we now have to be assimilated?

Porsche

[david duncan scott]

I remember my brother-in-law talking about the paint on his new Porsche. It had an under-layer, he explained, that oxidized when exposed to air, protecting the metal in some fashion.

"That's the Germans for you," he said. "Everything they make turns into something else in case there's a war..."

Re:Porsche

[Anonymous Coward]

Reminds me of a Frasier's episode, where Niles' oven didn't work:
    Niles: ... My Gaggenau is German-engineered.
                  It probably needs more power than my building's old wiring can
                  give it.
  Martin: Leave it to the Germans. Even their appliances crave power.

Self healing plastic

[Whatsisname]

I heard about stuff like this a few years ago, where minor fractures could be 'healed.' I also remember jay leno making jokes about it, saying that now women in california will live forever :eek:

Now in space station sized

[Belseth]

"Yeah NASA. Could you send up another box of those extra large Band-aids? Damn Russian Statelite nailed our port side again. They really need to start making them bigger. The one meter Band-aids just aren't cutting it. Oh and no more Snoopy ones. The Europeon's are still laughing their asses off about that last batch."