Astronauts Play With Fire, in Name of Science
From Times Wire Reports
The space shuttle Columbia’s astronauts set small fires in a study of soot. The flames were contained in a chamber, with no danger of fire breaking out.
Astronauts used a hot wire igniter and jet burner to produce the flames. They collected the soot for analysis on Earth. Scientists want to understand the production of soot, a pollutant that can lead to lung disease. They turned to space to eliminate the rising of hot air and to slow the reactions inside flames.
