Development Status of the Solid Combustion Experiment Module for Material Flammability Experiments on the ISS/Kibo

The research project called “FLARE (Flammability Limits at Reduced Gravity Experiment)” is under way by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), in cooperation with several space agencies such as NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), ESA (European Space Agency), and CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales). The objective of the project is establishment of the recommendation on the new evaluation standard of the material flammability in space, for improvement of fire safety in future manned space missions. In the framework of the project, on-orbit experiments on the ISS (International Space Station) are planned as well as the ground based experiments including relatively short duration microgravity experiments by parabolic flights. For the experiments on the ISS, an experimental apparatus tentatively called “SCEM (Solid Combustion Experiment Module)” has been developed by JAXA. The SCEM is installed into the MSPR (Multi-purpose Small Payload Rack) in the Japanese Experiment Module “Kibo”. The SCEM consists of several sub-systems including combustion chamber, gas supply and vent control system, experimental inserts, observation and measurement system etc.. Development of the SCEM includes some challenging aspects between necessary capabilities for implementation of the planned experiments with various solid samples and various constraints such as high level safety requirements and limited crew time on the ISS. At present, preliminary design and various tests by prototype of the SCEM elements are on-going. In this paper, recent development status of the SCEM, including representative results from the element tests by prototype, is presented.