NASA lights fire on spacecraft to test safety measures in lead up to 2024 Moon mission

In an experiment to make future space missions safer for astronauts, NASA lit a fire in a spacecraft to test how the fire could be controlled if it were to happen in real life in space. Under their research program of trying to understand the behaviour of fire in space, NASA has launched an experiment called Spacecraft Fire Safety Demonstration Project IV, or Saffire IV. In a set of 6 experiments NASA would test the theory and strength of a "smoke eater" and a carbon dioxide scrubber inside cargo spacecraft, Cygnus, designed by Northrop Grumman.

Cygnus capsules are commonly used by NASA to send experiments, food and other necessities to astronauts on the International Space Station. With the help of the capsule which would be studied as a prototype, NASA would be able to test fire safety measures ahead of their 2024 Artemis program to land astronauts on the moon.

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"We want to take what we learned from the first three Saffire experiments and see how flames spread and grow in other spacecraft conditions," Gary Ruff, Saffire project manager at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, said in a statement. "We also loaded Saffire IV with more diagnostic equipment to see how effectively we can detect fires, measure combustion products, and evaluate future fire response and clean-up technologies," he added. 

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How it works

The Saffire IV experiment built by Zin Technologies Inc. in Cleveland works with the help of sensors fitted inside Cygnus' cabin which constantly monitor its oxygen and carbon dioxide levels along with air temperatures, smoke concentration and the diameter of the smoke plume. Cygnus also deploys a special test filter nicknamed "smoke eater" inside its cabin. The entire cabin is fitted with four cameras to study the growth of the flame in space. 

The experiments are also being used to teach spaceflight experts on how to reign in a fire if it does break out in their spacecraft miles away from the earth with evacuation not being an option. Saffire IV's results are still being analyzed by NASA which released a preliminary video showing the growth of flames in space. The next two Saffire experiments are scheduled for October 2020 and March 2021.

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