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So how does one put out fires in 0 g or in a confined location such as the ISS or other habitat areas with only slightly more gravity. One can not just take his handy dandy fire exstingusher and spray its contents onto the flame.
Sounds like microgravity research time to me.
Short article so will post:
A blast of sound could be used to put out fires in spacecraft.
Regular fire extinguishers are useless in microgravity, as the foam spreads everywhere. So Dmitriy Plak and his colleagues at the University of West Georgia, Carrollton, US, wondered if sound would work instead.
In an earthbound experiment, they extinguished a candle flame with a 120-decibel 55-hertz tone. They do not yet know why it works, but speculate that the sound waves create a local pressure drop at the flame, causing either the oxygen concentration or the temperature to fall enough to put out the fire.
Astronauts would need ear protection: 120 dB is the sound level you get standing in front of the speakers at a rock concert. The team will fly their experiment on NASA's "vomit comet" in 2006 to test it in microgravity.
here is the link:
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Fire extinguishers work fine in microgravity. They extinguished one serious fire on Mir in the 1990's
Jon
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Definatly John,
This is yet another example of research that should not be funded. Who cares if a superhigh energy sound blast can knock out a flame? Plain old low-tech extinguishers work just fine. If that fails, use good ol' Halon.
[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]
[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]
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While putting a fire out may be solved what about detection...
Orbital Fire Brigade: Better Smoke Detectors for Future Spacecraft
That risk crystallized last month during a brief scare aboard the International Space Station, when its Expedition 13 crew reported a smoke-like smell inside the laboratory’s Russian segment.
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Was reminded if this by anothers post.
Fire alarm on board ISS caused by computer error activated last night in the Russian segment Zarya on board the ISS.
Smoking Out Space Fires: NASA Study Helps Prevent Fires in Space
"Smoke particles form differently in microgravity than they do on the ground," said William Sheredy, project manager for the Smoke Aerosol Measurement Experiment (SAME). "When smoke is created in microgravity, the particles have more time to gather together, producing larger particles or particle chains than in normal gravity."
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Wow that long ago....
Cygnus Spacecraft Launches to ISS with 3D Printer, Vehicle Fire Experiment in Tow
One of these payloads will enable the study of fire on a spacecraft which has not been attempted on a manned vehicle due to the high risks associated with combustion. The experiment will occur in about two months and will utilize the Cygnus spacecraft as it departs the International Space Station. Before burning up in the atmosphere, instruments on board the spacecraft will help measure flame growth and how much oxygen was burned during the test.
“The experiment is called Spacecraft Fire Experiment or ‘Saffire’ and the purpose of it is to look at the spread and growth of a large-scale fire in long-duration microgravity,” said experiment co-investigator Dr. Gary Ruff to the Observer. “The sample is about 4/10 of a meter wide by a meter long and it’s going to be the biggest piece of material that we’ve ever burned in space and what we’re trying to understand is; how rapidly that fire can grow and whether the fire reaches a steady size or continues to grow up the sample like it would if you had a drapery fire on Earth.”
Watch NASA’s Fire Experiment Launch To The Space Station Tonight
which was on the 22nd so we are a bit late towatch the launch but there is still the return...
Then, Cygnus will host the largest fire experiment attempted in a spacecraft. A box inside the spacecraft will contain a fire that's about a meter long, shedding some light on what to expect if a spacecraft in microgravity were to accidentally catch fire. Let's hope that never happens, though.
Finally, even as Cygnus burns up from the friction of entering Earth's atmosphere, it will still be collecting data. The Reentry Breakup Recorder " will measure and record the dynamics of Cygnus’ breakup" during reentry, according to an Orbital ATK press release.
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Here is the original clarks calamity topic its in a different place than on mars but its simular that we need to be prepared for events that we might not normally deal with.
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Moon & Mars might get fire-resistant habitats
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