3 July 2013

Astronauts onboard the International Space Station are installing technology that could listen for and locate air leaks.

Current systems detect but dont pinpoint leaks in the structures outside pressure wall, meaning if the crew cant find where the air is escaping, usually by listening for the hissing sound it produces, they would have to abandon ship.

To combat this problem, NASAs Langley Research Center has developed an ultrasonic background noise test (UBNT) to detect the high-frequency sounds made by the metal of the pressure wall as the air escapes, isolating them from the background noise of the space station.

The technology works using several distributed impact detection system (DIDS) units, which are high-speed, four-channel digitisers that record ultrasonic noises. Each unit has four pressure-sensitive transducers similar to the pickup coils on an electric guitar.

[The transducer] would essentially be stuck on the surface and anything that moves the surface up or down would be picked up, said principal investigator Eric Madaras in a statement.

Fourteen DIDS units are being installed aboard the ISS: seven in the main module Destiny and seven in Tranquility, which houses the stations life-support systems.

Once installed, the researchers hope to be able to identify and characterize the day-to-day background noises on the station and develop a system that can pick out leak-generated noises from the clutter.

The system may have other applications on Earth, for example in large pressure vessels containing radioactive material at a nuclear power station.

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International Space Station technology to 'listen' for leaks