The technique of ultrasonic leak detection through sensors mounted on the skin of a spacecraft or space station sounds good until the structures being monitored become more complex than a single sheet of aluminum. Then, resolving ambiguities from reflections and localizing the exact point of leakage may become difficult. Perhaps a portable device, with four or more transducers, could be pressed against a section of the hull to listen for the same ultrasonic hiss described here.

Mike Bushroe
Tucson, Ariz.