This article is classified "Fictional"
Ever since the first years of space travel it has been necessary to detect the loss of breathable air from a spacecraft. The most common solution before the wide-spread use of intelligent hulls was to deploy floating balls of vacuum-activated resin. These bubbles of liquid would drift around the cabin atmosphere but when the hull was holed (by microscopic meteorites, for example) the draft of escaping air sucked these bubbles to the breach and exposure to the vacuum started the hardening process. The hardened resin would block the hole until more permanent fixes could be applied. Technology and market forces improved the design. Several accidents with people choking on resin bubbles and eager lawyers saw that this product was quickly improved. The bubbles were made smaller and totally harmless to life. The result was "Active Air": air you could breathe - but it would perform some function for you when the need arose. Further Active Air products were developed including the "Space Travellers Fart Detector." The active elements to this product turned purple when in the presence of hydrogen sulphide. This meant no more questions of "Who farted?", as the answer could be visibly determined. This product is the origin of the phrase "Phew, that was a juicy purple."