The European FIAMMA Facility for Future Space Missions at Different Oxygen Concentrations and Pressure Levels

The selection of materials for human spaceflight spacecraft is critical to withstand a range of challenging environments and associated requirements. Specifically, the flammability behaviour of materials is a key consideration during mission development, and non-flammable materials are chosen as part of the flammability hazard control strategy. Future human exploration missions, such as the Gateway or lunar surface activities, will subject materials to higher oxygen concentrations than typically found on the ISS. This study utilizes the FIAMMA facility, a novel high-volume testing facility developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Thales Alenia Space Italy, to conduct flammability assessments of various materials, including Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) items. This paper presents the results of a test campaign which included the evaluation of commonly used materials and components for human space missions, such as hairdryers, polymeric bags and Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) under different oxygen concentrations and pressures. The tests performed included the Upward Flame Propagation Test (UPT), Configurational Flammability Test, and the Upward Limiting Oxygen Index (ULOI) and Maximum Oxygen Concentration (MOC) tests. The results of this study aim to contribute to the development of safer spacecraft systems for future lunar and Mars missions, and to advance the understanding of material flammability and the development of new testing protocols. The FIAMMA facility's capabilities and the results of this study demonstrate its significance in addressing the evolving flammability requirements for space missions, and its potential to further understand the field of materials flammability. The novelty of this work lies in the presentation of the flammability studies of the materials in configuration, for which there is little data available. Due to the choice of specific configurational based testing and materials, direct comparison with other flammability studies or test results is difficult to source and limited, however the presented work expands the knowledge in this field.