Fire Safety Technology Development for Exploration Spacecraft and Habitats

Abstract

Terrestrial fire safety technology has been developed from the careful study of the phenomena involved in the fire sciences. These include the ignitability of materials and fire behavior in relevant environments and scales, quantification of fire signatures required for early fire detection, development of instruments to measure those signatures, requirements for responding to and extinguishing a fire, and finally, identification of any special requirements for cleanup of the fire scene. This same overall approach is being applied to the development of spacecraft fire safety technologies through NASA’s Fire Prevention, Detection, and Suppression project and the requirements for infusion of these technologies into various space vehicles. In spite of the experience gained in terrestrial applications, we are limited by a general lack of specific information regarding the progress of fire development in relevant spacecraft environments. In this paper, we discuss the process that is being implemented to obtain the data to develop a coherent spacecraft fire safety strategy. This includes a material flammability strategy in low- and partial-gravity in elevated oxygen, low-pressure environments and the development of fire detection technologies. Fire suppression, response, and cleanup are presented as a single contingency response system that must work seamlessly with the rest of the spacecraft environmental control and life support system. Throughout the discussion, technology gaps and research needs for the continued development of fire safety technologies for NASA’s exploration missions are identified.