NASA Moon fire experiment could reshape how Artemis habitats are built

Fire safety is emerging as one of the most closely watched risks for NASA’s next era of human exploration, especially as Artemis aims for longer stays on the Moon. Engineers say flames can behave in unexpected ways in partial gravity, raising questions about how “safe” materials on Earth might perform in a lunar habitat.

NASA researchers are preparing an experiment known as Flammability of Materials on the Moon, or FM2, designed to study how common spacecraft and habitat materials burn on the lunar surface.

The project is being developed by teams at NASA Glenn Research Center and NASA Johnson Space Center, with academic partners, as part of broader efforts to reduce risks before sustained crewed missions.

Why lunar gravity changes flames

On Earth, buoyancy drives hot gases upward, pulling in cooler oxygen and sometimes snuffing out marginal flames through a process known as blowoff. On the Moon, reduced gravity weakens that flow, which researchers expect could allow oxygen to feed a flame more steadily, changing how fast and how long materials burn.

The concern is practical: even a small fire inside a pressurized habitat can generate toxic smoke, damage critical systems, and threaten crew escape routes. NASA has long screened materials with the NASA-STD-6001 flammability standard, but the agency has acknowledged that fire behavior can differ markedly once gravity and airflow conditions change.

Building on Saffire and ISS research

In microgravity, past NASA experiments have shown flames can spread slowly and respond strongly to ventilation patterns rather than rising like a typical campfire. The Spacecraft Fire Safety, or Saffire, series deliberately ignited larger material samples inside uncrewed Cygnus cargo spacecraft after they departed the International Space Station, allowing researchers to study more realistic burns without putting astronauts at risk.

Results from Saffire highlighted gaps between ground-based screening tests and real space conditions, including counterintuitive flame spread relative to airflow and differences tied to material thickness. Short-duration microgravity tests in drop towers and parabolic flights add useful data, but they typically last seconds, limiting what scientists can learn about sustained burning and heat damage.

What the FM2 test will measure

FM2 is designed to provide minutes of data in lunar gravity, something that cannot be replicated on Earth for extended periods. NASA’s concept uses a self-contained combustion chamber to burn multiple solid samples while instruments track oxygen levels and capture imagery and thermal readings to map flame growth and stability.

The findings could inform how NASA selects fabrics, polymers, and structural components for Artemis-era surface systems, and how future standards are written for partial-gravity environments. With NASA and its partners planning increasingly complex lunar operations, mission planners see better fire data as a quiet but critical step toward making long-duration stays routine.