SALT: Spacecraft Air Leak Technology

According to NASA, there are millions of micrometeoroids and orbital debris in the space [1] [2]. They are the number one threat to satellites, spacecraft and astronauts. They travel at high speed and direct collide with spacecraft will result hole and air leak. Detecting the air leaks in spacecraft is challenging, and not finding the leaks in time can cause destruction of scientific instruments, and the life of astronauts. The current tools or methods are either complicated or needed significant time to locate the hole, and they are not reliable. As a result, valuable resources, such as astronaut's time, are lost. SALT (Spacecraft Air Leak Technology) is an innovative solution to address the above problem. Each SALT is laid on a one foot by one foot flexible PCB (Printed Circuit Board), and each PCB can be placed on the walls of a spacecraft to create a wallpaper grid covering the entire interior of the spacecraft. A SALT is made up of two parts: the Hole Trap and the Electronic Circuit with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). The Hole Trap is a thin trace that is 6 mils, or 0.1524mm, in width, that coils around on a one foot by one-foot area. The trace closes a SALT circuit. When a micrometeorite punctures the wall of a spacecraft, it will break the trace on the Hole Trap. When the Hole Trap is broken, the circuit is opened, and it will trigger the RFID to send a unique identification code to a host computer. The host computer will immediately alert the astronauts with the specific location of the hole.