The Blog of Harald

My friend “Greg”:http://www.third-bit.com/~gvwilson/blog/ tells me that there is actually a simple way to detect small leaks in space structures. Google tells me that the station even has one: “a portable mass spectrometer”:http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2001/mini.html. This can be used to detect gas leaks with larger holes, but can also be used to detect extremely slow leaks like the one “I mentioned earlier”:. As humidified air leaks out, water ice forms on the surface of the station close to the leak; the spectrometer can easily detect that ice, pinpointing the leak.

There’s also a trick: “watching the station’s orientation”:http://www.buffalo.edu/reporter/vol35/vol35n3/articles/AirLeaks.html that can be used to detect relatively small leaks (any outgassing will act as a rocket, changing the station’s position in space; by monitoring that position, leaks can be pinpointed).

There are others; google has zillions of links…