Russian scientists design self-regenerating space skin

Specialists of the Central Research Institute for Mechanical Engineering developed the new outer skin for spaceships and space stations of the future. The skin will be able to regenerate after suffering minor damage caused with space garbage (similar to how human skin regenerates after small cuts).

Photo: Russian scientists design self-regenerating space skin

Russian scientists design self-regenerating space skin

The modern-day space industry uses special screens to protect spaceships. However, the protection of the ISS becomes possible owing to the work of many specialists, who supervise the movement of space garbage non-stop.

Some specialists believe that there is no reliable protection against the impact with space garbage. “The energy, which a 30-gram particle produces as it collides with a space station, is stringer than the energy of a full-loaded KamAZ truck that drives at the speed of 100 km/h,” Nikolai Ivanov of Russia’s Mission Control said in an interview with The Gazeta.

Pieces of space garbage on the orbit are bigger than 10 cm – there are thousands of such pieces in space. Mission Control receives a warning of a possible collision with space garbage two days before the possible event. There were 266 such warnings made last year. If the probability of collision is high, the station either moves to a different orbit or the crew evacuates from it.