NASA seeks to extinguish the fire in space

The US Aerospace Agency (NASA) is conducting a series of experiments on space stations to find out how to fire in the universe.

How to extinguish the fire in space

The fire that broke out in human- powered spacecraft will cause panic. Extinguishing the fire on the ship is not simply taking the nearest fire extinguisher to the fire.

Flame in space burns at lower temperatures, slower and less oxygen than in normal gravity environment.(Photo: NASA)

Flame manifests very differently in low gravity or gravity. On Earth, a stream of hot air moves up and pulls flammable material out of the fire and draws oxygen towards it. This is why the flame of a candle looks like a tear.

"In space, the fire burns in all directions like a round tablet, making it difficult for astronauts to find the place of fire. If you have a smoke detector on Earth, it is often placed in the ceiling. Due to smoke rising above, in a zero gravity environment, smoke radiates in all directions, "said Daniel Dietrich, an expert working at NASA's Glenn Research Center.

When the astronauts leave the Earth's orbit, they need to learn how to extinguish the fire in space . In 1997, the fire emitted from the oxygen tank on the Russian spacecraft Mir, leaving nearby people evacuated. The fire burned for 14 minutes before the fuel ran out.

Flame in space burns at lower temperatures, slower and less oxygen than in normal gravity environment. This means that the materials used to extinguish the fire must be of high concentration. Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) regularly practice fire prevention, they use CO2 fire extinguishers.

Dietrich and Forman Williams of the University of California San Diego, USA are implementing the Flame 2 (FLEX2) Testing Program on the ISS station. The goal of this program is to find better fire fighting equipment in the outer space, making the journey into space safer.

" The experiments in Earth orbit will help develop the basic knowledge to design for space travel," Williams said.

The first FLEX tests took place from 2009 to 2014. In the FLEX2 program, the team conducted experiments inside the Destiny science module (the rack-mount part of scientific projects) by the method remote controller. They burned small flames and looked at how they burned at different concentrations of the surrounding gases.

The results show that two common spacecraft fuels are methanol and heptanes will burn when there is at least 12-13% oxygen concentration in the spacecraft. Meanwhile, humans need at least 14-15% oxygen to survive.

Knowing exactly when the fire will turn off will help engineers create better fire fighting equipment, while astronauts make a more accurate decision if disaster strikes, including mixed changes. Combine gas inside the module to put out the fire.