Desko Inferno – Overcoming COVID hurdles to light our fire

Danelle Fogle, PMPProject Support Division Manager / Senior Project Scheduling Analyst

PeratonGlenn Research Center

2021 NASA Cost and Schedule SymposiumVirtual

April 7, 2021

Overview

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• Saffire IV, V, VI Summary• Photos of Saffire V while Berthed to ISS• Operations Timeline• Challenges• Solutions• Lessons Learned• Results

Saffire IV, V, VI Summary

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Far Field Diagnostics (in Mid Deck Locker)Avionics, CO2 scrubber, Smoke Eater, Combustion

Products Monitor, particulate monitors (DustTrack & Ion Chamber)

Remote Sensors (6)Measure temp & CO2 in

standoffs,hatch and end cone

Saffire Flow UnitApprox. 53x90x133cm. New features include 2 side view cameras, acid

gas, O2, heat and byproduct release to

cabin

Needs:¨ Demonstrate spacecraft fire monitoring and

cleanup technologies in a realistic spacecraft fire scenario

¨ Characterize fire growth in high O2, low pressure atmospheres in microgravity

¨ Obtain data to validate models of realistic spacecraft fire scenarios

Objectives:¨ Assess flame growth and spread of large-scale

microgravity fire (spread rate, mass consumption, heat release) in exploration atmospheres

¨ Evaluate fire behavior for a range of materials and configurations

¨ Demonstrate fire monitoring and response technology on all three flights

Photos of Saffire V while Berthed to ISS

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Far Field Diagnostics

(FFD)

Saffire Flow Unit

(SFU)

Remote Sensors (RS) [6 total, 2 end cones, 4

central]

Snorkel tip

Remote Sensor

Exhaust end of the SFU and a

Remote Sensor

Operations Timeline

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Saffire IV & V Challenges

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• Develop an alternate method to view NG MAESTRO screens (since the team couldn’t travel to Dulles, VA)

• Figure out how ZIN personnel would view Cygnus/Saffire data• Identify means for Mission Ops Team members to have backup internet connectivity• How were the communications between Saffire’s FOT-Console and NG and between FOT-

Console and NG Systems Engineer going to happen (since there was no travel allowed) • Would the Team have adequate home internet speed to download data• With only 3 Ops laptops and 1 backup server to run the Ground Application, how to run

multiple shifts remotely• How was the Team going to do mission simulations and operations remotely• How was the Team going to do mission rehearsals with NG• How to maintain and communicate Operations Timeline• How to access Cygnus data due to Solarwinds breach

Solutions

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• Data flow test was conducted and the Saffire data displays were accessible to the Saffire Mission Operations Team. Tied into Mission Support Environment (MSE) via JSC VPN

• ZIN personnel accessed the data via a shared display from MS Teams• Smart phones with hotspot capability and/or MiFi hotspots were requested for all Mission Ops Team

members for additional communication and back-up Wi-Fi• NG set up an audio WebEx on the Ops1 loop so that FOT-Console could communicate with NG Mission

Control. Telecon lines were used for communication between NG System Engineer and Saffire• Approved for Return to Work (RTOW) for data download• Successfully conducted mission simulations and operations using remote access• Rehearsals with NG were successfully completed being 100% remote• Operations Timeline Teams Channel• Due to the Solarwinds breach, travel was planned and ended up not being an issue

Lessons Learned

• Have backup plan for displaying telemetry• Needed a backup method to communicate with the OPS1 loop• Don’t have Ops start right after the holidays• Besides emailing exact start times, also text• Setup conference rooms for data download the day before the start of operations• Use the Teams Chat function to maintain another record of progress, issues, data,

etc.• Check the Ops Handbook for usability prior to Ops• More tool training• More data download training• Do equipment check prior to the mission

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Results

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Igniter

1-sided PMMA sample

Ø The impact for spacecraft fire safety is that thin structures on a thick material can propagate a flame in zero-g even though the flame does not propagate on the thick material

• The test conditions are nominally at 10.2 psia and 26.5 %O2. The flow is 20 cm/s. The video is 10x actual speed

Ø About 5 seconds into the video, the igniter initiates a flame on the downstream 1-sided sample.

• For the wide samples, a flame travels along each edge of the rib

• When the flow speed decreases to 5 cm/s about 38 seconds into the video, the yellow in the flames disappear

• At times you can see a second flame trailing the leading flame. This is the flame on the back side of the sample

• Note that the thinner ribs have the faster flame spread. Also note that the flame on the right-hand side of the sample doesn’t ignite the cross-stream ribs.

Air Flow

Results

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Conclusion

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