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

Ben Rothlisburger there done that

[stupidNewbie]

Sound like the smelly green goo inside of my bicycle tires... or fix-a-flat... same idea just in small capsules embedded

What about the guts?

[Tablizer]

It is the electronics and science instruments that need the care, not the hull. It would probably be cheaper, and perhaps lighter, to have a tough hull than a complex one than can close itself up. Pits and holes on the outside are not where the problems usually are. Unless, perhaps it is some kind of tank or sealed instrument. However, their process appears way too slow to seal that up fast in the vacuum of space. They are not clear on what is being protected and comparing it to the alternatives, such as gels and styrofome-like substances.

Re:What about the guts?

[Feanturi]

I think it's silly that the hull has to be made intentionally fragile in order for the sealant to be properly dispersed. Wouldn't it make more sense to have a hull that's already 'fully repaired'? IE: Whatever that stuff is they're using to harden it all up again, just make it out of that to begin with.

It's like having a firewall that requires you to get successfully attacked before it decides whether or not to put a stop to the traffic.

Re:What about the guts?

[NaeRey]

You think? A small hole in a spacecraft can cause incalculable damage. Check Columbia Shuttle. Why it burned? It had some minor scratches on its hull. Temperature got high, and in some 10secs it burned. Yes times are slow, and the material is expensive. But in the long run it would be better (for planetarian trip) as it would have enough time to 'heal' what damage it had during the trip. As for the price, it might get cheaper in the end...

Re:What about the guts?

[mulciberxp]

I think the point is, that when a tiny object crashes into the hull at 20,000mph, its going to do damage regardless of what the hull is made of. This concept is to lessen the inevitable damage.

Re:What about the guts?

[amightywind]

You are correct. I used to work at Hughes. The spacecraft structure is made out of graphite honeycomb panels in a six sided structure, three panels for payload electronics, three panels for satellite bus electronics.. They are very light and can sustain lots of damage and still keep their strength. I am not aware of a spacecraft ever failing in the way suggested by the article. There might be an application for the material, but it ain't spacecraft.

Interesting, but is it really Practical

[kfaroo]

The key word in the article is "minor". This would work for small abrasions, but would it really be useful? Think of all the accidents in space we have had so far. None of them would have been prevented by this technology.

Now this is promising...

[AEther141]

I'm sure we're all aware of just how much stuff came to us as a spin-off from the space industry. If this technology works, it could revolutionise so many things - roofing felt that lasts hundreds of years, GRP car bodywork that unscuffs itself, effectively crackproof consumer electronics and a plethora of stuff I'm too dull to think of. Early doors, but a fascinating pre-nanotech advance in materials technology.

If only we could just heal Slashdot's DUPE problem

[Powercntrl]

http://slashdot.org/science/01/02/15/041205.shtml

And my, what an old dupe it is!

Re:Weight?

[Gyga]

The majority would probly be located near the nose as that is what hits the small dust.

I. P. Freely

[teefaf]

Has no-one else noticed that one of the University of Bristol academics involved in the Study is called "Dr. I. Bond"?

And they're using adhesives to mimick the way our skin heals itself?

MOD PARENT UP, informative

[mangu]

It is the electronics and science instruments that need the care, not the hull

Agreed, I'm a "rocket scientist", (kind of, work with commercial satellites). The most common failure in spacecraft is electrostatic discharge. The best way to invest your money if you want to reduce failure rates in equipment in space is to invent better grounding systems.

In the vacuum of space, electrostatic charges build up as the effect of charged particles emitted by the sun that hit the spacecraft. Since there is no air to conduct the charges away, they accumulate until something breaks, unless there are conducting paths from everywhere to some conductive part of the craft's chassis. The trick in designing the systems is to make sure there will always be some conducting path.

Unfortunately, for scientific spacecraft there may be some instruments that need a very high insulation. Worse, since parts are usually outsourced to different manufacturers, it's very difficult to make sure they are all compatible with respect to charge dissipation. If you have parts with very low conductivity, the slightest variation in conductivity between different parts may cause a very high voltage difference to appear in some interfaces.