NASA’s First Spacecraft Fire Experiment Saffire May Happen in May

Summary: NASA's first Spacecraft Fire Experiment Saffire is expected to take place in May and is aimed at understanding how fires spread in space.

Saffire logo depicts Cygnus spacecraft with three bright stars representing three Saffire modules and streak above Earth representing Cygnus destructive re-entry; Saffire experiment module (depicted with top cover removed) consists of flow duct containing sample cloth (left) and avionics bay (right): Public Domain, via NASA

NASA’s first Spacecraft Fire Experiment Saffire is expected to take place approximately two months after Orbital ATK Cygnus OA-6 spacecraft’s rendezvous, slated for March 26, 2016, with the International Space Station.

“NASA’s objective is to reduce the risk of long-duration exploration missions, and a spacecraft fire is one of the biggest concerns for NASA and the international space exploration community,” Jason Crusan, director of NASA’s Advanced Exploration System, explains in a press release issued March 16, 2016, by NASA’s John H. Glenn Research Center.

NASA’s Spacecraft Fire Experiment mission addresses the knowledge void of the characteristics and parameters of fires in a setting of limited oxygen and microgravity onboard an exploration vehicle. As an expendable, unmanned spacecraft, Cygnus serves as an ideal environment for gaining understanding of spacecraft fire behavior without endangering any lives.

Insights gleaned from NASA’s Spacecraft Fire Experiment mission are crucial for spacecraft fire safety for current missions as well as for future, long-duration missions, such as to Mars. Saffire’s revelations also are expected to increase understanding of Earth-based fires in small, sealed environments, such as inside airplanes, mines and submarines.

“Saffire will be the biggest man-made fire ever in space. Currently, we can only conduct small combustion experiments in the microgravity environment of the space station. Saffire will allow us to safely burn larger samples of material without added risk to the station or its crew,” explains Gary A. Ruff, NASA’s Spacecraft Fire Safety Demonstration project manager, in NASA’s March 16 press release. “Using the Cygnus cargo vehicle to host Saffire offers a unique opportunity to conduct beneficial spacecraft fire safety research using existing mission profiles.”

NASA’s Spacecraft Fire Experiment mission, known as Saffire, unfolds in three phases over three consecutive cargo flights in 2016. Data and images recorded by Saffire’s avionics, or electronics system, are transmitted to Orbital ATK, headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, and to Saffire’s principal investigators, NASA's John H. Glenn Research Center. Saffire’s diagnostics monitor the experiment’s environment. The mission’s hardware is expected to disintegrate during the spacecraft’s normally destructive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.

Saffire I takes place about one day after Cygnus undocks from the International Space Station. The first Spacecraft Fire Experiment ignites a piece of SIBAL (Solid Inflammability Boundary at Low-Speeds) fabric, a cotton-and-fiberglass blend developed specifically as a fuel sample. The cloth measures approximately 16 inches wide (0.4 meters) by 37 inches (1.0 meters) long, to study flame growth and spread. Saffire I studies flame growth and spread with the aim of determining any flame size limits and of quantifying flame development on a large scale.

“Within the first day after Cygnus pulls away from the space station, we will begin the experiment, which will run autonomously once the RUN command is sent,” explains Steven Sinacore, deputy project manager, in NASA's March 3 press release. “It will only take a few hours to run the experiments, but Cygnus will remain in space for seven days to ensure complete data transmission back to the Saffire operations team on the ground.”

Saffire I’s experiment takes place in a three-by-three-five foot tall module that already is loaded, along with experiments, other hardware, and supplies for the International Space Station’s crew, in Cygnus’s payload. The space station crew offloads everything from Cygnus except for the Saffire I module. Over the next two months of docking, Cygnus is loaded with the station’s disposable items and trash.

NASA’s Spacecraft Fire Experiment mission continues on Orbital ATK’s two subsequent 2016 cargo launches. Cygnus OA-5, scheduled for May 31, houses Saffire II. Saffire II investigates Maximum Oxygen Concentration (MOC) flammability via nine samples of the space station’s routinely used materials. Each sample has a width of 2 inches (5 centimeters) and a long of 12 inches (30 centimeters). Saffire II aims to determine flame extinguishment or propagability.

Cygnus OA-7, scheduled for Oct. 4, carries Saffire III. The third and final Spacecraft Fire Experiment evaluates a large-scale microgravity fire.

Manufacturing facilities at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and at White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, joined the John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in Ohio in building the three Saffire modules. The Advanced Exploration Systems Division in NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate sponsors Spacecraft Fire Safety Demonstration Project as developers of the Saffire flight systems.

Orbital ATK’s Cygnus OA-6 spacecraft currently is scheduled for a cargo launch Tuesday, March 22, 2016, at 11:05 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, with a 30-minute launch window. The spacecraft’s arrival at the International Space Station is slated for Saturday, March 26. If Tuesday’s launch is canceled, Wednesday, March 23, at 10:40 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time is selected as the next launch opportunity.

Consistent with Orbital ATK’s tradition of naming each Cygnus spacecraft as a tribute to a deceased astronaut, Cygnus OA-6 honors Rick Douglas Husband, commander of Space Shuttle Columbia mission STS-107. Husband and his six-member crew all perished Feb. 1, 2003, when the shuttle disintegrated during re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.

NASA Television is providing prelaunch, launch and post-launch coverage. On Monday, March 21, NASA TV will broadcast two prelaunch briefings, beginning at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Live launch coverage begins on March 22 at 10 p.m.

NASA's Spacecraft Fire Experiment Saffire aims to study fires in space: NASA @NASA via Twitter March 16, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Saffire logo + module: Public Domain, via NASA @ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1761.html

NASA's Spacecraft Fire Experiment Saffire aims to study fires in space: NASA‏ @NASA via Twitter March 16, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/NASA/status/710187135450660864

For further information:

“Burning and Suppression of Solids (BASS) - 11.25.15.” NASA.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/735.html

“Fire in the Hole: Studying How Flames Grow in Space.” NASA Feature. March 3, 2016.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/feature/fire-in-the-hole-studying-how-flames-grow-in-space

“Mission Page: OA-6 Space Station Cargo Resupply.” Orbital ATK News Room.
Available @ https://www.orbitalatk.com/news-room/feature-stories/OA6-Mission-Page/default.aspx

NASA‏ @NASA. "We're going to set a fire... on a spacecraft! More on our fire safety experiment in space." Twitter. March 16, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/NASA/status/710187135450660864

NASA Glenn Research Center. “Watch how the Saffire experiment will be conducted in space.” YouTube. Sept. 11, 2015.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JkQ12JluJ0

“NASA OA-6 Pre-Launch Press Confs, March 2016, KSC.” SpacePolicyOnline.com. 21-Mar-2016 through 21-Mar-2016.
Available @ http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/events/nasa-oa-6-pre-launch-press-confs-mar-2016-ksc

“NASA Pursues Burning Desire to Study Fire Safety in Space.” NASA Press Release. March 16, 2016.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-pursues-burning-desire-to-study-fire-safety-in-space

“Orbital ATK CRS-6 Briefings and Events.” NASA.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/content/orbital-atk-crs-6-briefings-and-events

“Orbital ATK OA-6 Cargo Launch to ISS, Mar 2016, Cape Canaveral.” SpacePolicyOnline.com.
Available @ http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/events/orbital-atk-oa-6-cargo-launch-to-iss-mar-2016-cape-canaveral

“Spacecraft Fire Experiment-I (Saffire-I) - 01.13.16.” NASA.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1761.html