Overview
- NASA confirmed plans Monday to send the FM2 (Flammability of Materials on the Moon) experiment to the lunar surface to perform controlled burns inside a sealed, robotic chamber.
- The chamber will ignite four small solid-fuel samples while onboard cameras, an oxygen sensor and instruments for temperature and radiation record flame shape, spread, heat output and oxygen use.
- Researchers say reduced lunar gravity weakens convection, which can change flame shape and stability and even let some materials burn at lower oxygen levels than on Earth.
- FM2’s results could prompt concrete changes to how NASA certifies materials, designs habitats and trains crews for fire response by revealing which materials and behaviors pose the greatest risk in lunar conditions.
- The test is intentionally small and contained and could fly on a commercial payload later this year, building on decades of microgravity combustion work on the ISS that showed Earth tests do not fully predict space behavior.