11 Sep NASA Created A Material That Can Heal Itself In Less Than A Second From Hurtling Space Debris
Scientists at NASA’s Langley Research Center are studying new materials that can self-heal in seconds under extreme temperatures and from flying space junk.
The research is a combination of work from a student on fellowship at NASA from the University of Michigan and nearly a decade-and-a-half of study on self-healing materials for both aircrafts and spacecrafts.
NASA scientists said it works much like a puncture healing in the body, but faster. The organically designed polymers respond to energetic events such as space debris – or bullets – rapidly hitting the material. The material’s chemistry activates on impact to help plug a hole or leak to repair the craft potentially within less than a second.
Testing actually involves shooting a bullet through the material to see how it reacts after penetration. The small molecules of the polymer substance the material is made of flows around the bullet when it hits the matter, but the structural integrity of the material stays intact.