Hollywood has long been enamored with the idea of fire set ablaze in space. In most of the industry's doomsday features like "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact," a space explosion is usually the climactic end of alien threats. These events usually consist of a huge burst of flames partnered with a shattering boom.
However, despite the prevalence of this film trope, a fire explosion outside of the Earth's atmosphere has yet to be thoroughly researched on. While there is some evidence claiming that an actual fire in space would look nothing like what is often depicted in movies, there are only a few studies delving on fires set in low-gravity areas.
Thankfully, NASA has recently announced their intention to embark on a mission that would shed light on how fire would behave in space.
In a press junction conducted last week, as reported by Yahoo News, NASA confirmed their intention to conduct an experiment that would create a large scale fire in space. The project, which has been dubbed Spacecraft Fire Experiment or Saffire, is aimed to fill the knowledge gap surrounding fire safety aboard spacecrafts.
The experiment would be conducted inside an empty Cygnus resupply vehicle after it leaves the International Space Station and before it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere. Cygnus spacecraft are perfect for experiments since it undergoes a destructive re-entry anyway. The research procedure would be done autonomously, with sensors and cameras collecting data on the fire in real time. It is expected for the fire to last as short as 15 to 20 minutes at most. The information gathered would be sent to a command base remotely as the Cygnus spacecraft makes its decent.
According to Gizmodo, Saffire 1 co-investigator Gary Ruff explained during the recent press conference that "One of the big questions in fire safety, whether it's terrestrial or in space, is how rapidly are conditions in a room or spacecraft going to get bad for inhabitants."
Saffire-1 is the first of the three planned Saffire fire launches. NASA, however, has yet to confirm an specific date, wherein the first Saffire launch would be taking place.
Watch Orbital ATK Cygnus successful launch to International Space Station: