Partial Gravity Portable Fire Suppression System

All NASA space vehicles have had and will have either handheld portable and/or fixed fire suppression systems. But while each vehicle is required to have a suppression system there are no standardized designs or performance standards for spacecraft suppression systems. For example the design of the International Space Station (ISS) Carbon Dioxide (CO2) fire extinguisher is based on meeting the National Fire Protection Agency standard for a CO2 extinguisher discharged behind an ISS standard payload rack. While terrestrial standards are useful reference points, they neglect the unique hazards of long-duration space exploration missions such as partial/zero gravity operation and non-standard cabin atmospheres and limited to no egress (suppression and quick recovery are necessary).

A fire suppression system represents the last line of defense (not including rapid emergency egress) in the event of an accidental fire. Therefore, the suppression system must be effective, not damage vehicle systems and be relatively easy to clean up while minimizing the volume and mass footprint on the vehicle. For missions beyond low earth orbit the cabin atmospheres will be enriched oxygen at lower cabin pressures and include both microgravity (near zero gravity) and partial gravity (i.e., Lunar and/or Martian). The combination of these factors renders terrestrial fire suppression system design standards to be of only limited value as they primarily involve atmospheric air at atmospheric pressure.

As NASA moves beyond the ISS with commercial vehicle/habitat providers and long-duration
missions to the Moon and Mars there is a more pressing need for design and performance standards that reflect the unique hazards of the environment and mission and provide a foundation to compare as-built system performance against.  The goal of this work is to provide a framework and guidelines for selecting and designing a suppression system for a particular vehicle in addition to developing specification and requirements that NASA can use to evaluate proposed spacecraft fire suppression systems.

• Performance specifications for candidate suppressants
• Draft standards for spacecraft fire suppression systems 
• Prototype Portable Fire Extinguisher (PFE) for a demonstration spacecraft

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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