A new material that could help spacecraft autonomously “heal” cracks and leaks is being tested in Earth-based simulations of space conditions.
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The hollow fibers with a diameter of 30 micrometers contain the new material. When a crack or leak occurs, the fibers break, releasing a liquid that fills the crack, solidifies, and seals the damage. (ESA) |
This self-healing “skin” is the product of Ian Bond and Richard Trask from the University of Bristol, UK, as part of a project with the European Space Agency.
It was inspired by human skin—a material capable of self-healing wounds through blood exposure to air, which coagulates to form a protective scab.
Researchers have developed a similar concept to protect spacecraft. They created a thin composite material containing hundreds of hollow glass fibers with an internal diameter of 30 micrometers (one-thousandth of a millimeter). Half of the glass fibers are filled with epoxy polymer or resin, while the other half is filled with a chemical agent—capable of reacting with the polymer to form a very hard and strong substance.
The glass fibers are designed to break easily when the composite sheet is damaged, allowing the two types of chemicals to escape, react with each other, and quickly fill the resulting cracks or voids.
“We have demonstrated that we can restore the material’s strength using this method, and it can withstand the conditions of space,” Bond stated.
The research team successfully tested the self-healing material in a vacuum chamber, simulating conditions outside of Earth. They plan to improve the material and test it under more extreme conditions, such as very high temperatures.
This technology could protect spacecraft from small meteoroids—debris with diameters of just a few millimeters, but traveling at thousands of meters per second, which can damage satellites or crewed vessels and cause significant harm. Another potential application of the self-healing material is to protect spacecraft from leaks caused by extreme temperatures during flight.
However, spacecraft equipped with this protective layer will not be launching immediately. “It will be at least another decade before this new technology can reach space,” Christopher Semprimoschnig, the research team leader, commented.
T. An
