Acoustic emissions applications on the NASA space station

Abstract

Acoustic emission is being investigated as a way to continuously monitor the space station Freedom for damage caused by space debris impact and seal failure. Experiments run to date focused on detecting and locating simulated and real impacts and leakage. These were performed both in the laboratory on a section of material similar to a space station shell panel and also on the full-scale common module prototype at Boeing's Huntsville facility. A neural network approach supplemented standard acoustic emission detection and analysis techniques.