Sensory skin to detect damage outside spacecraft

​Washington: Scientists at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are developing a system that acts like a sensory skin to help astronauts to know exactly when the outside of their spacecraft has been damaged.

The "Flexible Damage Detection System" technology may offer a possible solution to NASA's problem of figuring out in real-time where a spacecraft is damaged and how seriously.

"I kind of look at it like a sensory skin," said Martha Williams, the scientist leading the development team.

Micrometeoroids and orbital debris pose threats to spacecraft as they move at speeds of 17,500 mph or 28,000 km per hour in low-Earth orbit, and at over 24,000 mph or 38,400 kmph on trips to the Moon and deep space.