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"I share the view of Pythagoras that the world is number. The ultimate substrate of the universe is math. There's no way to test that - it's pure metaphysical speculation."
- Bart Kosko

Self-Sealing Plastic  
  Transparent sheeting with a layer of material that would flow to staunch tiny leaks.  

But the wide roof was all the way up, now—intact. It made a great, squarish bubble, the skin of which [a 'transparent, wire-strengthened plastic '] was specially treated to stop the hard and dangerous part of the ultra-violet rays of the sun, and also the lethal portion of the cosmic rays.

It even had an inter-skin layer of gum that could seal the punctures that grain-of-sand-sized meteors might make. But meteors, though plentiful in the asteroid belt, were curiously innocuous. They all moved in much the same direction as the large asteroids, and at much the same velocity—so their relative speed had to be low.

Technovelgy from Asteroid of Fear, by Raymond Z. Gallun.
Published by Planet Stories in 1951
Additional resources -

Compare to alpha inserts from Exiles of the Moon (1931) by Schachner and Zagat, quartzite leak foil from The Great Dome of Mercury (1932) by Leo Zagat and plastifoam from Collision Orbit (1941) by Jack Williamson.

Another way to plug holes in spacecraft or other constructions in space is to bring some other material to put in place over the hole. Consider the quartzite leak foil from The Great Dome of Mercury (1932) by Leo Zagat, tag-along balloons from Gentlemen, Be Seated (1948) by Robert Heinlein, leak disks from Islands in the Sky (1952) by Arthur C. Clarke and plug-ups from Passage at Arms (1985) by Glen Cook.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Asteroid of Fear
  More Ideas and Technology by Raymond Z. Gallun
  Tech news articles related to Asteroid of Fear
  Tech news articles related to works by Raymond Z. Gallun

Self-Sealing Plastic-related news articles:
  - Self-Repairing Aircraft Mimic Borg Cubes
  - Bendable, Self-Healing Concrete
  - Smart, Self-Healing Hydrogels
  - Self-Healing Materials - Microencapsulated or Microvascular
  - Self-Healing Polymer Works Without Catalyst
  - Living Concrete Repairs Itself
  - Self-Healing Materials For Spacecraft
  - Self-Adapting Composite Heals Itself
  - Self-Healing Circuits From Carnegie Mellon
  - Self-Healing Material Pulls Carbon Out Of The Air
  - RUSSE Self-Healing Plastic Works Underwater

Articles related to Material
'Mooncrete' Lunar Regolith Concrete (LRC)
Harvard Metamaterials Change Structure Instantly
Nano-Chainmail 2D Mechanically Interlocked Polymer
Goldene - A Two-Dimensional Sheet Of Gold One Atom Thick

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