The Skylab fire detector was evaluated in a zero gravity environment. To conduct the test, small samples of spacecraft materials were ignited in a 5 psi oxygen-rich atmosphere inside a combustion chamber. The chamber free-floated in the cabin of a C-135 aircraft, as the aircraft executed a Keplerian parabola. Up to 10 seconds of zero-gravity combustion were achieved. The Skylab fire-detector tubes viewed the flames from a simulated distance of 3m, and color movies were taken to record the nature of the fire. The experiments established the unique form of zero-gravity fires for a wide range of materials. From the tube-output data, the alarm threshold and detector time constant were verified for the Skylab Fire Detection System.
Experiments with the Skylab fire detectors in zero gravity
1972-01-01
Conference paper
No indication
English
MSFC Skylab Corollary Experiments
NTIS | 1974
MSFC Skylab corollary experiments
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Students Experiments on Skylab
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