Overview
- NASA’s FM2 experiment, planned for an uncrewed Commercial Lunar Payload Services lander in late 2026, would ignite four solid samples inside a sealed chamber with cameras, radiometers, and an oxygen sensor.
- The mission would measure how flames start, spread, and go out in one-sixth gravity because today’s NASA-STD-6001B safety screen relies on a six-inch flame test done on Earth.
- Researchers caution that materials that barely resist fire on Earth may burn on the Moon due to weaker buoyant air flow and reduced blowoff that otherwise helps snuff small flames.
- Short-duration tests in drop towers and on sounding rockets, plus ISS and Cygnus Saffire experiments, have hinted at higher flammability limits off Earth, but FM2 would be the first sustained combustion study on the lunar surface.
- The team expects benchmark data that can guide material choices, habitat layouts, space suit design, and emergency procedures for Artemis-era outposts.