NASA will arrange a controlled fire in space on the ship Cygnus

No matter how strange it may sound, but the NASA agency is really going to make a fire in space. It is planned to do this on the spacecraft Cygnus. Naturally, scientists and engineers are planning something like this not for entertainment or for a show (although the show will work out anyway). Arson is necessary in order to study the dynamics of fire in the conditions of a spacecraft in outer space.

Until now, fire in space has been lit (meaning not in open space, but on a ship), but it was a small flame. And in order to find out how the fire will behave on a spacecraft, it is necessary to set fire to this ship. The fire will be arranged with the help of a special box with flammable material inside.

Previous "fires" were the size of a maximum of 10 * 10 centimeters. It does not allow to simulate the flow of fire in real conditions. On Earth, fires in order to study their dynamics are arranged in buildings, airplanes, ships, even mines. Few people imagine what will happen if the spacecraft lights up. What should the team do in this case? How will events develop? Unknown.
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The experiment was named SAFFIRE, and consists of three stages. Stages 1 and 3 are a series of fires of samples of 15.7 and 37 inches in size. The experiment will be carried out in a box where air will be fed so that the samples can burn. Duration of fire - from 15 to 20 minutes. Scientists set fire to samples to observe the spread of fire in the almost complete absence of gravity. Experts want to know whether there is a limit on the size of the flame in such conditions, and what will be the dynamics of the "fire".

Operators will give the command "Burn!" Only after the spacecraft performs its task, delivering cargo to the ISS. Then Cygnus will be removed a certain distance from the station, and only after that will NASA set fire to the dangerous cargo. Data collection will be performed using a large number of different sensors. Information will be collected on oxygen, carbon dioxide, temperature, pressure. Thanks to the cameras, the monitoring will be conducted in real-time mode.

It is also planned to install two video cameras with a number of radiometric devices. In this case, the authors of the idea believe that the spacecraft will not be completely destroyed, but will be able to transfer the fire on its board. Observation data will be compressed and sent to Earth. The ship will be in orbit for several days to transfer all the accumulated information.