Conducts research on combustion phenomena in microgravity and partial-gravity environments and develop advanced technologies and the knowledge-base necessary to ensure fire safety in all mission phases and combustion-based miniature power sources to support human mobility.
Capabilities include Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) on ISS (International Space Station) to conduct long-duration microgravity experiments; specialized ground-based combustion labs with state-of-the-art diagnostics; access to ground-based low-gravity facilities including NASA low-gravity aircraft, 5.2 Second Zero-Gravity facility and 2.2 Second Drop Tower.
Combustion science research is aimed at developing technologies and the knowledge-base necessary to ensure fire safety in all mission phases; establishing flammability limits and reaction processes under various extra-terrestrial environments; and combustion based miniature power sources to support human mobility and to apply these results to improve and control a myriad of combustion processes on Earth. Flight hardware is developed for ISS and other space platforms to conduct carefully designed experiments to elucidate the effects of low gravity on combustion and reacting systems.
During the course of flight experiments, branch members serve as Project Scientists and work closely with Principal Investigators providing in-house technical expertise regarding the scientific content of the experiment, conducting ground-based precursor testing, and assisting in the development of required experiment technologies and diagnostic techniques.
Research Areas
- Material flammability in microgravity and partial-gravity environments and under a range of oxygen concentrations to select and specify safe materials
- Development of ground-based flammability testing methodologies applicable for microgravity and partial-gravity environments
- Develop fire prevention strategies applicable for microgravity and partial gravity environments of spacecraft and habitats
- Develop fire detection sensors and strategies for detecting fire in microgravity and partial-gravity environments
- Establish the efficacy of suppression systems including effectiveness of suppressants, required concentrations and dispersion methods
- Definition and analysis of realistic fire scenarios for exploration missions and simulation of fire and fire-response scenarios for system response and crew training
- Miniature combustion-based power systems for human and rover mobility
- Analysis and design of chemical processes for in situ resource utilization on the Moon, Mars, and asteroids
