There is fabric on the space station that scientists use to “listen” to the impacts of space dust.

One of the biggest threats to the International Space Station (ISS) comes from impacts of micrometeoroids. A small hole in the wrong place can throw resident astronauts into a potentially fatal situation. Currently, there is no active program to monitor these types of impacts, although scientists believe they must be common given the ubiquity of small objects in the orbit of the ISS. An interdisciplinary team at MIT hopes to provide data to support this theory by using an extremely unusual impact sensor made almost entirely of fabric.

The exterior panels of the ISS are already covered with a fabric called Beta fabric, which gives the space station its distinctive white color. Teflon lace-up fiberglass material is designed to protect the space station from small scale impacts. However, it does not actively monitor if and where an impact has occurred, making it difficult for astronauts to determine if a piece of tissue needs to be repaired or replaced.

Enter material designed by the MIT team. It uses “thermally stretched acoustic fibers” hypersensitive to mechanical vibrations. The tissue also converts these mechanical vibrations directly into electrical energy using the piezoelectric effect. Connecting wires to individual pieces of material would provide a grid-like structure and allow engineers to count the number and size of impacts affecting the fabric.

Samples of these very sensitive tissues, as well as others that have electronic components directly integrated, were sent to the ISS earlier in November. Although samples are not powered at this time, a 10cm x 10cm sample is currently attached to the outside of the ISS. The team plans to expose the sample to the rigors of space for a year, after which it will be returned to Earth and analyzed for any changes.

In addition to analyzing the return sample, the team plans to launch motorized versions of the tissues in late 2021 or early 2022. Motorized tissues are not only useful for detecting impacts from debris. The team also plans to think about other use cases for the hardware. Many applications have already been developed in the field, but space is a new frontier for this new technology.

Ideas include everything from the detection of cosmic dust to haptic feedback and communication networks embedded in the tissues of space suits. Since the idea of ​​using these fabrics in space is still so new, the inventors at MIT are exploring many potential options to truly understand the potential of this revolutionary technology. If they prove up to the challenge, the ISS, and many other permanent space vehicles, could acquire a whole new set of high-tech clothing.

Learn more:
MIT News – 3 questions: Using fabric to “listen” to space dust
Tevo News – MIT team sends high-tech fabrics into space
Hackster.io – Future astronauts could acquire sense of touch with MIT’s smart fabrics aboard the ISS

Main image credit: JAXA / Space edited by MIT News