Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction

Short Name: SoFIE

Current Status: Onboard

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The Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction (SoFIE) payload provides hardware that enables the study and characterization of the ignition and flammability of solid spacecraft materials (fuels) in practical geometries and realistic atmospheric conditions. SoFIE is an experiment insert for the existing Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR). The CIR chamber provides a level of containment and permits testing at variable oxygen concentrations and pressures representative of current and planned NASA Space Exploration Atmospheres (SEA). A variety of fuels are to be burned, including flat sheets, cylinders, spheres, and thick slabs. While SoFIE initially meets the requirements of five investigations, is intended for use by any researchers who proposes related solid combustion studies in the future.

Parent Facility: CIR

Child Facility:

ISS Environment: Internal

Facility Owner: NASA

Facility Manager: Paul Ferkul, Ph.D. | NASA Glenn Research Center

Manager Email: [email protected]

Operator/Implementation Partner: ZIN Technologies

Developer(s): NASA Glenn Research Center

Sponsoring Space Agency: NASA

Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction