Researchers develop material that repairs itself if punctured

A new material developed by scientists is capable of quickly repairing itself and could save astronauts' lives in case debris penetrated a spacecraft.

The International Space Station, has ''bumpers'' that vaporise debris before the station suffered a hit. It is the most heavily-shielded spacecraft ever flown, according to Nasa.

However, in case of failure of bumpers, a direct hit would allow life-sustaining air to gush out of astronauts' living quarters.

In the journal ACS Macro Letters, researchers from the University of Michigan and Nasa Langley Research Center, described that they planned to develop a backup defence, which led to the development of a new material that healed itself within seconds and could prevent structural penetration from being catastrophic.

The new kind of self-healing material has a reactive liquid between two layers of solid polymer and when researchers shot a bullet through it, the liquid quickly reacted with oxygen from the air to form a solid plug in under a second. According to the researchers, the technology technology could also apply to other more earthly structures including automobiles.