BYO2: NASA Planning to Set First-Ever Fire on the Surface of the Moon.
As part of an experiment appropriately dubbed Flammability of Materials on the Moon (FM2), the researchers are looking to challenge a standardized test, known as NASA-STD-6001B, which involves holding a six-inch flame to a material to evaluate its safety. If it burns more than six inches up or drips burning debris, it fails the test. The standard is required for the “evaluation, testing, and selection of materials that are intended for use in space vehicles and associated Ground Support Equipment,” according to NASA.
But there’s one glaring problem, as the scientists point out in their latest mission outline: the test is “conducted in normal Earth gravity, with the assumption that if a material passes the 1G test, then it is considered safe for spaceflight.”
However, the partial gravity on the lunar surface could throw our understanding of fire for a loop once again — a crucial question scientists are racing to understand, as an open fire inside a lunar habitat, let alone the tight confines of a spacecraft, could easily prove disastrous.
But the testing ought to be a blast.
