NASA Space Apps ChallengeFlame in Freefall

Microgravity combustion and crew fire safety

Which space fire experiments matter for your habitat?

Apollo 1's crew died in a 1967 test fire in a cabin full of oxygen. As Artemis heads back to the Moon, habitats will run richer oxygen at lower pressure, where materials burn more easily. Source: NASA challenge brief

Investigations

NASA PSI

20

Microgravity combustion and fire safety studies

Oxygen data

50%

10

of 20 state an oxygen range

Investigations per safety area

20 total
  • 8Prevention
  • 4Detection
  • 4Suppression
  • 8Science only

One investigation can cover two areas.

Linked to a source

100%

20

of 20 link to a NASA page

Rank

Rank for your habitat

20 investigations, scored by a transparent formula. Change a setting and the order updates.

Score out of 100, a plain sum

5 parts
  • 35the investigation was run for the chosen habitat
  • 25your oxygen level is inside the tested range (12.5 if within 10 points of it)
  • 20it covers the chosen safety area (everyone gets these with "all")
  • 10it has airflow data
  • 10its data was checked against NASA sources

Moon Base: no NASA record names the Moon, so its 35 points go to conditions instead: 17.5 if tested at 26.5% oxygen or more, 17.5 if tested at 10.2 psia (70.3 kPa) or less. These are the atmospheres NASA considered for human missions, as listed in the ACME-BRE record: 21% oxygen at 14.7 psia, 26.5% at 10.2 psia, 34% at 8.2 psia.

Missing data scores 0. We never guess a value.

Safety area

  1. #1BASS-IITop match

    Burning and Suppression of Solids II

    Ignition, flame growth, flame spread and extinction limits of solid fuels in low speed forced flow in microgravity

    Why: run for a spacecraft, 21% oxygen is inside the tested 13.6 to 22.2%, has airflow data, checked against NASA sources

    • solid fuel
    • Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG)
    • Small wind tunnel (flow up to 40 cm/s)

  2. #2ACME-BRE

    Burning Rate Emulator

    Burning conditions of materials in still microgravity air, as a function of material properties

    Why: run for a spacecraft, 21% oxygen is inside the tested 21 to 40%, checked against NASA sources

    • gas fuel
    • Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR)

  3. #3SAFFIRE-I

    Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiment I

    How fast a large fire grows in low gravity, and low gravity flammability limits compared with NASA's normal gravity screening test

    Why: run for a spacecraft, 21% oxygen is close to the tested 21.5 to 21.7%, has airflow data, checked against NASA sources

    • solid fuel
    • Saffire flow duct in the Cygnus cargo vehicle after it left the ISS

  4. #4SAFFIRE-II

    Spacecraft Fire Experiment II

    How fast a large fire grows in low gravity, and low gravity flammability limits compared with NASA's normal gravity screening test

    Why: run for a spacecraft, 21% oxygen is close to the tested 21.5 to 22.1%, has airflow data, checked against NASA sources

    • solid fuel
    • Saffire flow duct in the Cygnus cargo vehicle after it left the ISS

  5. #5BASS

    Burning and Suppression of Solids

    Bridge the gap between the normal gravity NASA-STD-6001 Test 1 and real material flammability in microgravity, and test an inert gaseous extinguishing agent on different materials and geometries

    Why: run for a spacecraft, has airflow data, checked against NASA sources

    • solid fuel
    • Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG)
    • Small flow duct (76 mm x 76 mm) with variable speed fan

  6. #6SAFFIRE-III

    Spacecraft Fire Experiment III

    How fast a large fire grows in low gravity, and low gravity flammability limits compared with NASA's normal gravity screening test

    Why: run for a spacecraft, has airflow data, checked against NASA sources

    • solid fuel
    • Saffire flow duct in the Cygnus cargo vehicle after it left the ISS

  7. #7SAME

    Smoke and Aerosol Measurement Experiment

    Measure the size of smoke particles made in low gravity and how they affect smoke detectors

    Why: run for a spacecraft, has airflow data, checked against NASA sources

    • solid fuel
    • liquid fuel
    • Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG)
    • Comparative Soot Diagnostic hardware

  8. #8SAME-R

    Smoke Aerosol Measurement Experiment Reflight

    Repeat SAME with new materials and wider conditions to measure smoke particle size in low gravity

    Why: run for a spacecraft, has airflow data, checked against NASA sources

    • solid fuel
    • Comparative Soot Diagnostic hardware

  9. #9SPICE

    Smoke Point In Co-flow Experiment

    Smoke point (when a flame starts to release soot) of jet flames in coflowing air in microgravity

    Why: run for a spacecraft, has airflow data, checked against NASA sources

    • gas fuel
    • Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG)
    • Flow duct with nozzles

  10. #10DAFT

    Dust and Aerosol Measurement Feasibility Test

    Show that a P-Trak particle counter, modified for microgravity, counts aerosols correctly before it was used in SAME

    Why: run for a spacecraft, checked against NASA sources

    • Modified TSI P-Trak particle counter
    • DustTrak

  11. #11DAFT-2

    Dust and Aerosol Measurement Feasibility Test 2

    Show that a P-Trak particle counter, modified for microgravity, counts aerosols correctly before it was used in SAME

    Why: run for a spacecraft, checked against NASA sources

    • Modified TSI P-Trak particle counter
    • DustTrak

  12. #12FLEX-2

    Flame Extinguishment Experiment 2

    Extend FLEX to fuels and conditions like real combustors, with benchmark data on droplets made of two fuels

    Why: 21% oxygen is inside the tested 17 to 30%, has airflow data, checked against NASA sources

    • liquid fuel
    • Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus (MDCA)
    • Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR)

  13. #13FLEX

    Flame Extinguishment Experiment

    Map flammability limits of liquid fuels in microgravity and measure how well gaseous suppressants (CO2, helium) work

    Why: 21% oxygen is inside the tested 12 to 34%, checked against NASA sources

    • liquid fuel
    • Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus (MDCA)
    • Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR)

  14. #14CFI

    Cool Flames Investigation

    Cool flame burning of n-dodecane and mixtures at different pressures and helium dilution

    Why: 21% oxygen is inside the tested 17 to 21%, checked against NASA sources

    • liquid fuel
    • Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus (MDCA)
    • Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR)

  15. #15ACME-CFI-G

    Cool Flames Investigation with Gases

    Conditions for steady cool diffusion flames with gaseous fuels, including inverse flames

    Why: 21% oxygen is inside the tested 12 to 85%, checked against NASA sources

    • gas fuel
    • Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR)

  16. #16ACME-FLAME-DESIGN

    Flame Design

    Soot inception and extinction limits of normal and inverse spherical flames

    Why: 21% oxygen is inside the tested 19.8 to 85%, checked against NASA sources

    • gas fuel
    • Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR)

  17. #17ACME-S-FLAME

    Structure and Response of Spherical Diffusion Flames

    Structure, extinction limits and pulsating instabilities of spherical flames

    Why: 21% oxygen is inside the tested 21 to 30%, checked against NASA sources

    • gas fuel
    • Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR)

  18. #18ACME-E-FIELD

    Electric-Field Effects on Laminar Diffusion Flames

    How an electric field (up to 10 kV) changes flame stability, soot and ion current in microgravity

    Why: checked against NASA sources

    • gas fuel
    • Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR)

  19. #19SLICE

    Structure and Liftoff In Combustion Experiment

    Structure and stability (liftoff) of laminar diffusion flames in microgravity

    Why: checked against NASA sources

    • gas fuel
    • Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG)
    • SPICE flow duct with a fan

  20. #20ACME-CLD

    Coflow Laminar Diffusion Flame

    Weak coflow flames and soot at extreme fuel dilution, to test computer models

    Why: checked against NASA sources

    • gas fuel
    • Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR)