NASA Explores Behavior Of Flames In Space With Microgravity Fires

Traveling between planets is considered a risky and dangerous experience for astronauts. Threats can come from a variety of causes such as leakages, or system failures, which lead to a fire disaster. As a solution for this, NASA is exploring the behavior of flames in space through microgravity fires. 

NASA mentioned that astronauts on the  (ISS) made use of a versatile device called Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) that could support combustion experiments. They found that the flames in space with zero gravity conditions would ignite in a spherical shape as the hot air expanded out of the epicenter. It had the shape of an expanding flock of fireflies originating from a single point in space. Meanwhile, the flame on the Earth under gravity will create hot gas to ignite and rise upwards. Other experiments focus on monitoring the use of delivery systems with oxygen during combustion. 

For Daniel Dietrich, a scientist at NASA's Glenn Research Center, The Flame Extinguishment Experiment (FLEX) is considered one of the most striking experiments of CIR. Through this experiment, scientists have discovered the effectiveness of flame retardants as they burn fuel droplets. More specifically, the cold flame seemed not to stop burning even after being extinguished under certain conditions. These experiments also broaden the understanding of the flame and its complete combustion, as the combustion process on Earth is not complete.

For NASA, the study of the burning flame gives much great significance to the development of space science and definitely they will do further research on this interesting topic.