Results for “mission trends” — Page 11

NASA NTRS2015

Medication Use by U.S. Crewmembers on the International Space Station

This study examined medication use during long-duration. Medication records from 24 crewmembers on 20 missions (greater than 30 days duration) were examined for trends in usage rates, efficacy, indication, as well as adverse event qualities, frequencies and severities. No controls were possible in this observational, retrospective analysis of available data; comparisons are made to similar studies of individuals on shortduration spaceflights and submarine deployments. The most frequently used medications were for sleep problems, pain, congestion or allergy. Medication use during spaceflight missions was similar to what is seen in adult ambulatory medicine; one notable exception is that usage of sleep aids was about 10 times higher in spaceflight. There were also two apparent treatment failures in cases of skin rash, raising questions about the efficacy or suitability of the treatments used. Many spaceflight-related medication uses were linked to extravehicular-activities and operationally-driven schedule changes. The data suggest that sleep and skin rash merit additional study prior to longer space exploration missions. It also seems likely that alterations in schedule-shifting or extravehicular activity suits would reduce the need for many medication uses, preserving resources as well as improving crew quality of life.

Wotring, V. E.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Inflight Performance of Cassini Reaction Wheel Bearing Drag in 1997-2013

As the first spacecraft to achieve orbit at Saturn in 2004, Cassini has collected science data throughout its four-year prime mission (2004-08), and has since been approved for a first and second extended missions through September 2017. Cassini is a three-axis stabilized spacecraft. It uses reaction wheels to achieve high level of spacecraft pointing stability that is needed during imaging operations of several science instruments. The Cassini flight software makes in-flight estimates of reaction wheel bearing drag torque and made them available to the mission operations team. These telemetry data are being trended for the purpose of monitoring the long-term health of the reaction wheel bearings. Anomalous drag torque signatures observed over the past 15 years are described in this paper. One of these anomalous drag conditions is bearing cage instability that appeared (and disappeared) spontaneously and unpredictably. Cage instability is an uncontrolled vibratory motion of the bearing cage that can produce high-impact forces internal to the bearing that will cause intermittent and erratic torque transients. Characteristics of the observed cage instabilities and other drag torque "spikes" are described in this paper. In day-to-day operations, the reaction wheels' rates must be neither too high nor too low. To protect against operating the wheels in any undesirable conditions (such as prolonged low spin rate operations), a ground software tool named Reaction Wheel Bias Optimization Tool (RBOT) was developed for the management of the wheels. Disciplined and long-term use of this ground software has led to significant reduction in the daily consumption rate of the wheels' low spin rate dwell time. Flight experience on the use of this ground software tool as well as other lessons learned on the management of Cassini reaction wheels is given in this paper.

Cassini/Huygens Mission↗

NASA NTRS2016

EOS Aqua Mission Status at Earth Science Constellation MOWG Meeting @ LASP April 13, 2016

This presentation reflects the EOS Aqua mission status, spacecraft subsystem summary, recent and planned activities, inclination adjust maneuvers, propellant usage and lifetime estimate, orbital maintenance maneuvers, conjunction assessment high interest events, ground track error, spacecraft orbital parameters trends and predictions.

Aqua mission status↗

NASA NTRS1978

Engineering in the 21st century

Reasonable evolutionary trends in federal outlays for aerospace research and development predict a continuing decline in real resources (1970 dollars) until the mid eighties, and a growth thereafter to the 1970 level by 2000, still well below the 1966 peak. Employment levels will parallel this trend with no shortage of available personnel foreseen. These trends characterize a maturing industry. Shifts in outlook toward the economic use of resources, rather than minimum risk at any cost, and toward missions aligned with societal needs and broad national goals will accompany these trends. These shifts in outlook will arise in part in academia, and will, in turn, influence engineering education. By 2000, space technology will have achieved major advances in the management of information, in space transportation, in space structures, and in energy. The economics of space systems must be the primary consideration if the space program foreseen for the 21st century is to become an actuality.

Mccarthy, J. F., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1982

The human role in space

Requirements for the future human role in space are considered. Human tasks were divided into normal scheduled activities, unscheduled activities, and contingency activities. A strawman mission model was developed. Projections were made of crew size, mission duration, pressurized spacecraft volume, and power requirements. Trends of human roles were likewise projected.

Hall, S. B.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Southern Hemispheric nitrous oxide measurements obtained during 1987 airborne Antarctic ozone experiment

The chemical lifetime of N2O is about 150 years, which makes it an excellent dynamical tracer of air motion on the time scale of the ozone depletion event. For these reasons it was chosen to help test whether dynamical theories of ozone loss over Antarctica were plausible, particularly the theory that upwelling ozone-poor air from the troposphere was replacing ozone-rich stratospheric air. The N2O measurements were made with the Airborne Tunable Laser Absorption Spectrometer (ATLAS) aboard the NASA ER-2 aircraft. The detection technique involves measuring the diffential absorption of the IR laser radiation as it is rapidly scanned over an N2O absorption feature. For the AAOE mission, the instrument was capable of making measurements with a 1 ppb sensitivity, 1 second response time, over an altitude range of 10 to 20 kilometers. The AAOE mission consisted of a series of 12 flights from Punta Arenas (53S) into the polar vortex (approximately 72S) at which time a vertical profile from 65 to 45 km and back was performed. Comparison of the observed profiles inside the vortex with N2O profiles obtained by balloon flights during the austral summer showed that an overall subsidence had occurred during the winter of about 5 to 6 km. Also, over the course of the mission (mid-August to late September), no trend in the N2O vertical profile, either upward or downward, was discernible, eliminating the possibility that upwelling was the cause of the observed ozone decrease.

Podolske, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS1992

The changing nature of spacecraft operations: From the Vikings of the 1970's to the great observatories of the 1990's and beyond

Four trends in spacecraft flight operations are discussed which will reduce overall program costs. These trends are the use of high-speed, highly reliable data communications systems for distributing operations functions to more convenient and cost-effective sites; the improved capability for remote operation of sensors; a continued rapid increase in memory and processing speed of flight qualified computer chips; and increasingly capable ground-based hardware and software systems, notably those augmented by artificial intelligence functions. Changes reflected by these trends are reviewed starting from the NASA Viking missions of the early 70s, when mission control was conducted at one location using expensive and cumbersome mainframe computers and communications equipment. In the 1980s, powerful desktop computers and modems enabled the Magellan project team to operate the spacecraft remotely. In the 1990s, the Hubble Space Telescope project uses multiple color screens and automated sequencing software on small computers. Given a projection of current capabilities, future control centers will be even more cost-effective.

Ledbetter, Kenneth W.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Combined Effects of Spaceflight and Age in Astronauts as Assessed by Areal Bone Mineral Density [BMD] and Trabecular Bone Score

Spaceflight is a potential risk factor for secondary osteoporosis in astronauts. Although lumbar spine (LS) BMD declines rapidly, more than expected for age, there have been no fragility fractures in astronauts that can clearly be attributed to spaceflight. Recently, astronauts have been returning from 6‐month spaceflights with absolute BMD still above young adult mean BMD. In spite of these BMD measurements, we project that the rapid loss in bone mass over long‐duration spaceflight affects the bone microarchitecture of the LS which might predispose astronauts to premature vertebral fractures. Thus, we evaluated TBS, a novel texture index correlated with vertebral bone microarchitecture, as a means of monitoring changes to bone microarchitecture in astronauts as they age. We previously reported that TBS detects an effect of spaceflight (~6‐month duration), independent of BMD, in 51 astronauts (47+/‐4 y) (Smith et al, J Clin Densitometry 2014). Hence, TBS was evaluated in serial DXA scans (Hologic Discovery W) conducted triennially in all active and retired astronauts and more frequently (before spaceflight, after spaceflight and until recovery) in the subset of astronauts flying 4‐6‐ month missions. We used non‐linear models to describe trends in observations (BMD or TBS) plotted as a function of astronaut age. We fitted 1175 observations of 311 astronauts, pre‐flight and then postflight starting 3 years after landing or after astronaut's BMD for LS was restored to within 2% of preflight BMD. Observations were then grouped and defined as follows: 1) LD: after exposure to at least one long‐duration spaceflight > 100 days and 2) SD: before LD and after exposure to at least one short-duration spaceflight < 30 days. Data from males and females were analyzed separately. Models of SD observations revealed that TBS and BMD had similar curvilinear declines with age for both male and female astronauts. However, models of LD observations showed TBS declining with age while BMD appeared stable or trending upward. For females (n=8) LD observations were too few to discern a trend. Notably, models describing trends in TBS appeared to be more sensitive to the effects of age than the models for BMD. We conclude that TBS may provide an additional index for the lumbar spine to monitor the combined changes due to spaceflight and due to aging. This increased knowledge may enhance the ability to identify an intervention trigger for premature vertebral fractures in astronauts.

Sibonga, Jean D.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Vertical and Horizontal Heterogeneity of Atmospheric Dust Loading in Northern Gale Crater, Mars

This paper updates the record of atmospheric dust loading within northern Gale Crater, Mars, by providing line-of-sight extinction (LOS-Ext) measurements of the intervening dust between the rover and the crater rim. These measurements are derived from images taken with the Navigation Cameras (Navcam) onboard the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity. The observations span 2.44 Mars years, from Mars Year (MY) 31 at a solar longitude (L(sub s)) of 208° to t L(sub s) = 7° of MY34, sols 100–1701 of the MSL surface mission. This work examines the dataset for seasonal trends of the LOS-Ext in addition to horizontal variations and the vertical structure of LOS-Ext. The LOS-Ext has a repetitive pattern with a single peak in the latter half of the Mars year. The atmosphere in the crater is well mixed horizontally but not vertically as larger LOS-Ext is seen nearer the crater floor than at higher altitudes within the crater. The results allow a discussion on whether or not Gale Crater is a sink for atmospheric dust or a source of atmospheric dust in the current era.

Casey A. Moore↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Integrated Waste Trade Study: Lunar Surface to Deep Space

The Logistics Reduction Project is one of NASA's technology development projects that is preparing humanity for deep space missions. Reducing the mass and volume of logistical supplies that must be carried from Earth to support the missions and their crews is the primary goal of the project. Effective ways to achieve this goal include reducing, reusing, or recycling wastes generated throughout the mission. Due to the goal of the project, waste processing technologies were analyzed for Lunar surface missions at various lengths and an 850-day Mars transit mission to evaluate the potential benefits of waste processing pertaining to each mission. The technologies assessed include trash compaction, trash-to-gas and human metabolic waste processing technologies, integrated with the baseline architectures of each mission’s habitat. The fully integrated systems were analyzed using an equivalent system mass, which is a metric that encompasses the mass, volume, power and cooling of a system, resulting in an estimate of launch mass and serving as a proxy for cost. Each system’s equivalent system mass was compared to that of the baseline waste processing system of the respective habitat, hand compaction with storage for Lunar surface missions and hand compaction with jettisoning for Mars transit, to evaluate whether the traded waste processing technology was beneficial. This analysis identifies a general trend that more sophisticated waste processing can be beneficial depending on the mission duration. For Lunar surface missions, the water recovery from waste processing can pay off over consecutive missions, due to offsetting the losses from the system via extravehicular activities. In contrast for Mars transit, the primary objective is mass removal from the spacecraft, so technologies like trash-to-gas are competitive with the baseline. Furthermore, the technologies which can recover resources from waste, such as water, may present additional advantages to an ever-changing Mars mission architecture.

Waste processing↗

NASA NTRS2007

GRACE Gravity Data Constrain Ancient Ice Geometries and Continental Dynamics over Laurentia

The free-air gravity trend over Canada, derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission, robustly isolates the gravity signal associated with glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) from the longer-time scale mantle convection process. This trend proves that the ancient Laurentian ice complex was composed of two large domes to the west and east of Hudson Bay, in accord with one of two classes of earlier reconstructions. Moreover, GIA models that reconcile the peak rates contribute approximately 25 to approximately 45% to the observed static gravity field, which represents an important boundary condition on the buoyancy of the continental tectosphere.

Tamisiea, M. E.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Limitations of Reliability for Long-Endurance Human Spaceflight

Long-endurance human spaceflight - such as missions to Mars or its moons - will present a never-before-seen maintenance logistics challenge. Crews will be in space for longer and be farther way from Earth than ever before. Resupply and abort options will be heavily constrained, and will have timescales much longer than current and past experience. Spare parts and/or redundant systems will have to be included to reduce risk. However, the high cost of transportation means that this risk reduction must be achieved while also minimizing mass. The concept of increasing system and component reliability is commonly discussed as a means to reduce risk and mass by reducing the probability that components will fail during a mission. While increased reliability can reduce maintenance logistics mass requirements, the rate of mass reduction decreases over time. In addition, reliability growth requires increased test time and cost. This paper assesses trends in test time requirements, cost, and maintenance logistics mass savings as a function of increase in Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) for some or all of the components in a system. In general, reliability growth results in superlinear growth in test time requirements, exponential growth in cost, and sublinear benefits (in terms of logistics mass saved). These trends indicate that it is unlikely that reliability growth alone will be a cost-effective approach to maintenance logistics mass reduction and risk mitigation for long-endurance missions. This paper discusses these trends as well as other options to reduce logistics mass such as direct reduction of part mass, commonality, or In-Space Manufacturing (ISM). Overall, it is likely that some combination of all available options - including reliability growth - will be required to reduce mass and mitigate risk for future deep space missions.

Owens, Andrew C.↗

NASA NTRS2023

Risk Trade-Space Analysis for Safe Human Expeditions to Mars

We assessed the integrated safety, health, and performance risk to crews on long-duration missions, specifically to Mars. Using a systems approach rather than one focused on individual countermeasures, we examined the trade space around several such risks to identify high-potential risk mitigation strategies and characterize aspects of Mars mission architectures that could lower aggregated risk. Current Mars Design Reference missions would require durations well over two years and would increase crew exposure to radiation and microgravity well beyond ISS levels, likely resulting in significantly reduced performance beyond our current capability to mitigate that could jeopardize mission success. A “fast Mars transit” round-trip mission concept was studied using an innovative flight dynamics approach to quantify the minimum total mission energy required for a Mars transit with total mission duration less than 400 days. This approach holds promise for sending humans to Mars and returning them safely with acceptable, potentially mitigatable, exposure to microgravity and radiation using current or near-term technologies. The fast transit concept would also result in fewer time-driven vehicle failures and enable sustainable deployment of humans and infrastructure to Mars on a regular cadence, allowing steady exploration and colonization of Mars. Finally, we conclude that reliance on the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) mission operations paradigm – i.e., one of near-complete real-time dependence on experts at Mission Control to manage the combined state of the mission, vehicle, and crew – is high risk given the communication delays and limited resupply of any Mars mission, and this risk is not eliminated by the shorter missions durations of fast transit scenarios. Based on historical trends, it is highly likely that the crew will face a high-consequence problem of uncertain origin during Mars transit when ground support will be greatly reduced. While it may be possible to reduce anomaly rates through improved reliability analysis and testing, and to reduce anomaly impacts through added robustness, such mitigations address only known failure modes and known uncertainties. Therefore, a radical shift in the Human-Systems Integration Architecture (HSIA) that defines the operational paradigm, systems design, and human-systems interactions is required to improve the risk posture to an acceptable level regardless of mission duration.

Mars↗

NASA NTRS2023

ICESat-2/ATLAS at 4 Years: Instrument Performance and Projected Life

NASA’s ICESat-2 mission launched in September 2018 carrying a single instrument, the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS). ATLAS uses a high-repetition-rate, low-pulse-energy laser with its output split into six beams and a photon-counting receiver to measure Earth surface elevation with centimeter-level precision, repeating its ground track every 91 days. During more than four years of on-orbit operation, ATLAS has met or exceeded its lifetime and performance requirements. We present performance measurements, trends and projections for several instrument parameter, including transmitted laser pulse energy, receiver sensitivity, the instrument’s impulse response, transmitter/receiver alignment, dead-time behavior, and elevation measurement performance. The laser energy setting was increased in September 2023, for the first time, to maintain ranging performance at its early mission level. The trends in instrument parameters indicate capability to continue on-orbit operation of ATLAS for many years into the future.

Anthony J. Martino↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Overview of NASA's Ocean Color Instrument Solar Calibration Architecture, Pre-Launch Tests and Preliminary On-Orbit Results

Launched in February 2024, the PACE mission represents NASA’s next investment in ocean biology, clouds, and aerosol data records. A key feature of PACE is the inclusion of an advanced satellite radiometer known as the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI), a global mapping radiometer that combines multispectral and hyperspectral remote sensing. Like its predecessors, OCI will provide two day global coverage of TOA radiances. Unlike its predecessors, OCI will cover a spectral range from 340nm to 2260nm. Below 900nm, OCI will include two spectrometers that continuously span the ultraviolet to 600nm and 600nm to near-infrared spectral regions to provide hyperspectral radiances sampled every 2.5 nm, with a bandwidth of 5 nm for each channel. Wavelengths above 900nm are measured in seven discrete multispectral bands of varying bandwidths, six of which are at similar wavelengths to those on heritage missions to support both atmospheric and ocean color applications. Nominal spatial resolution is similar to the SeaWiFS instrument with 1050 m at nadir. As for SeaWiFS, the pixel size increases due to a ~20 degree tilt and as a function of scan angle. Variations in the radiometric sensitivity of each OCI channel over time will be monitored by solar diffuser measurements for short term instrument gain adjustments and independent lunar measurements for trend adjustments of long time periods, similar to the approach employed for the VIIRS instrument [4]. The OCI flight-unit was built at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. At the time of this writing, OCI has completed on-orbit commissioning activities and normal science operations have begun. A key aspect of the OCI architecture is the capability to trend absolute and relative calibration changes over the course of mission life with solar calibration. Every 24 hours, the PACE spacecraft performs an inertial hold as the ground track nears the North Pole which orients a Quasi-Volume Diffuser (QVD) mounted on OCI towards the sun. By knowing the irradiance of the sun and the reflectivity of the target, the absolute radiance at the input to the OCI aperture can be computed as OCI scans the target. The allowable absolute uncertainty budget for each solar calibration measurement is 1.6% 1-sigma below 900nm at beginning of life (BOL) and the allowable relative uncertainty budget is ~0.26% 1-sigma. The Solar Calibration Assembly (SCA) consists of three targets selectable via a single mechanism which also opens a door. The targets consist of a Daily Bright Target (DBT), Monthly Bright Target (MBT), and Daily Dim Target (DDT). The bright targets are quartz QVDs with the monthly target being used to track the degradation of the daily target. The dim target is used to track CCD linearity using Progressive Time-Delay Integration (PTDI). A composite baffle is attached to the SCA housing aperture to block Earth shine and stray light from the spacecraft. The SCA assembly is mounted to a view port ~90° from OCI nadir. This paper provides an overview of driving solar calibration requirements, error-budgets and early trade studies which drove the solar calibration assembly (SCA) architecture and on-orbit maneuver. Measurements of the diffuser Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) at TNO, Netherlands and GSFC are briefly described. Optical modelling and test results at the sub-system and instrument level are included. Finally, preliminary measurements on-orbit are compared to pre-launch predictions.

Joseph J Knuble↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Overview of NASA's Ocean Color Instrument Solar Calibration Architecture, Pre-Launch Tests and Preliminary On-Orbit Results

Launched in February 2024, the PACE mission represents NASA’s next investment in ocean biology, clouds, and aerosol data records. A key feature of PACE is the inclusion of an advanced satellite radiometer known as the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI), a global mapping radiometer that combines multispectral and hyperspectral remote sensing. Like its predecessors, OCI will provide two day global coverage of TOA radiances. Unlike its predecessors, OCI will cover a spectral range from 340nm to 2260nm. Below 900nm, OCI will include two spectrometers that continuously span the ultraviolet to 600nm and 600nm to near-infrared spectral regions to provide hyperspectral radiances sampled every 2.5 nm, with a bandwidth of 5 nm for each channel. Wavelengths above 900nm are measured in seven discrete multispectral bands of varying bandwidths, six of which are at similar wavelengths to those on heritage missions to support both atmospheric and ocean color applications. Nominal spatial resolution is similar to the SeaWiFS instrument with 1050 m at nadir. As for SeaWiFS, the pixel size increases due to a ~20 degree tilt and as a function of scan angle. Variations in the radiometric sensitivity of each OCI channel over time will be monitored by solar diffuser measurements for short term instrument gain adjustments and independent lunar measurements for trend adjustments of long time periods, similar to the approach employed for the VIIRS instrument [4]. The OCI flight-unit was built at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. At the time of this writing, OCI has completed on-orbit commissioning activities and normal science operations have begun. A key aspect of the OCI architecture is the capability to trend absolute and relative calibration changes over the course of mission life with solar calibration. Every 24 hours, the PACE spacecraft performs an inertial hold as the ground track nears the North Pole which orients a Quasi-Volume Diffuser (QVD) mounted on OCI towards the sun. By knowing the irradiance of the sun and the reflectivity of the target, the absolute radiance at the input to the OCI aperture can be computed as OCI scans the target. The allowable absolute uncertainty budget for each solar calibration measurement is 1.6% 1-sigma below 900nm at beginning of life (BOL) and the allowable relative uncertainty budget is ~0.26% 1-sigma. The Solar Calibration Assembly (SCA) consists of three targets selectable via a single mechanism which also opens a door. The targets consist of a Daily Bright Target (DBT), Monthly Bright Target (MBT), and Daily Dim Target (DDT). The bright targets are quartz QVDs with the monthly target being used to track the degradation of the daily target. The dim target is used to track CCD linearity using Progressive Time-Delay Integration (PTDI). A composite baffle is attached to the SCA housing aperture to block Earth shine and stray light from the spacecraft. The SCA assembly is mounted to a view port ~90° from OCI nadir. This paper provides an overview of driving solar calibration requirements, error-budgets and early trade studies which drove the solar calibration assembly (SCA) architecture and on-orbit maneuver. Measurements of the diffuser Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) at TNO, Netherlands and GSFC are briefly described. Optical modelling and test results at the sub-system and instrument level are included. Finally, preliminary measurements on-orbit are compared to pre-launch predictions.

ocean color↗

NASA NTRS2021

On-Orbit Calibration and Performance Assessments of Terra and Aqua Modis Thermal Emissive Bands

Terra and Aqua MODIS have successfully operated for more than 20 and 18 years, respectively, and far exceeded their designed lifetimes of 6 years. MODIS has 36 spectral bands, among which 16 are the thermal emissive bands (TEB) covering a wavelength range from 3.75 to 14.24 μm. Observations from the MODIS TEB have been used to generate a number of data products, such as surface/cloud/atmospheric temperatures, cloud top altitude, and water vapor properties. To a large extent, the quality of the MODIS L1B radiance product has been maintained through the entirety of each mission via extensive on-orbit calibration and validation efforts. MODIS TEB calibration uses a quadratic algorithm and is referenced to an on-board blackbody with its temperature measurements traceable to the NIST standard. We provide an overview of the MODIS instrument operations, key TEB calibration activities, and algorithms used in the latest L1B data Collection 6.1 (C6.1) and describe the TEB on-orbit performance for both Terra and Aqua MODIS. The TEB gain trends have been stable to within 5% over the Terra mission after 2003 under the same electronic configuration, except for bands 27 to 30, and within 3% over the Aqua mission. The Terra MODIS optical crosstalk correction implemented right after launch has been very effective in removing the ghost images in its photoconductive detector bands 32 to 36. Starting from C6.1, an electronic crosstalk correction algorithm has also been applied to the Terra MODIS photovoltaic detector long-wave infrared bands 27 to 30. The noise characterization performance remains stable with most TEB detectors continuously meeting their design requirements. A gradual loss of the Aqua MODIS radiative cooler margin reached its maximum in 2013 and has been slowly recovering since then. On-orbit changes in TEB response versus scan angle are extremely small based on pitch maneuver observations and assessments using vicarious approaches. The remaining challenges in TEB calibration and proposed improvements for the upcoming data collection with L1B data production and reprocessing are discussed.

Terra↗

NASA NTRS2000

Progress in Fire Detection and Suppression Technology for Future Space Missions

Fire intervention technology (detection and suppression) is a critical part of the strategy of spacecraft fire safety. This paper reviews the status, trends, and issues in fire intervention, particularly the technology applied to the protection of the International Space Station and future missions beyond Earth orbit. An important contribution to improvements in spacecraft fire safety is the understanding of the behavior of fires in the non-convective (microgravity) environment of Earth-orbiting and planetary-transit spacecraft. A key finding is the strong influence of ventilation flow on flame characteristics, flammability limits and flame suppression in microgravity. Knowledge of these flow effects will aid the development of effective processes for fire response and technology for fire suppression.

Friedman, Robert↗