Space To Innovate - Inventions Made In Space

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Smoke Detectors

Consumer Products | Industrial Improvements

Every day, smoke detectors alert people to fires and save their lives. Every year, there are more than 2 million fires in the U.S. — about 1 out of 4 are home fires with roughly 25% of them starting in the kitchen. Deaths from fire have been cut in half since the days before smoke alarms were introduced in the late 1970s. Still, more than 3,000 people die each year from fire. (Some had smoke detectors, and some did not.) If a fire were to start on the ISS, it could quickly spread and be catastrophic, so it's especially important that a fire is detected as soon as possible! Fortunately, research on the ISS has led to state-of-the-art smoke detectors on the ISS. And on Earth, we are moving closer to utilizing this research for better smoke detectors for our homes and commercial buildings.

While orbiting the Earth in 1997, the crew on the Mir space station had to quickly extinguish a fire. A crack in a piece of equipment that supplied oxygen to the crew started the fire. The fire burned for about 90 seconds. Had equipment not detected the fire and alerted the crew, it could have been catastrophic.

While orbiting the Earth around ten years later, the crew on the ISS had to extinguish a number of different fires. The scientists had set the fires intentionally! The fires were all part of experiments to improve smoke detection on the ISS. With improved smoke detection devices, the ISS is much more likely to avoid future catastrophes from fires.

Have you ever thought about how smoke detectors work? Our noses tend to be our internal "smoke detectors" — we often smell smoke before we see evidence of fire. (In fact, there was a scare aboard the ISS in 2006 when scientists thought they smelled smoke. Fortunately, it was just a small leak of a mild chemical, and not a sign of fire.) Smoke detectors can't really smell, though. Instead, they look for (you know, detect) particles in the air that are about the same size as the particles normally found in smoke.

Of course, quick and effective smoke detection on the ISS is important because the scientists on board are a long way from the nearest fire station on Earth. However, smoke detection is also different than it is on Earth. Smoke particles are bigger in space. In microgravity, smoke particles "float" more and have more time to gather together, so they tend to be larger.

The importance of fire detection and the differences in fire detection prompted scientists to study fire, smoke, and smoke detectors on the ISS. It is research that is improving smoke detectors on Earth. They called the research the Smoke and Aerosol Measurement Experiment (SAME). It involved multiple components during experiments in which short controlled fires burned Teflon, Kapton tape, silicone, rubber and other spacecraft materials.

One key element focused on understanding smoke in microgravity and then extending that to understanding smoke on Earth. Airflow and ventilation on the ISS are closely monitored — not just to detect smoke but to ensure that the scientists have safe, breathable air. As you can imagine, the ISS has many different smoke detectors on board, so scientists were able to monitor the flow of smoke throughout the ISS and measure how quickly its equipment detected the smoke. The type of fire (or smoke, really), as well as the location and the types of smoke detectors all provided experimental data. Then using all of that data, scientists created computer models of smoke movement and detection.

In addition to using the smoke detectors that are installed throughout the ISS, scientists have conducted experiments using a handheld device called P-Trak. (It's actually a tool that we could buy here on Earth.) It uses an internal laser and sensors that "see" dust and aerosols to measure air quality. By making some modifications to the device, scientists created a tool for microgravity. Because the air in the ISS is so controlled, it is a relatively dust free. As a result, the P-Trak has been an incredibly effective tool in studying smoke on the ISS.

One important aspect of the research has focused on minimizing false alarms. It's a difficult challenge. On the one hand, it's important to have smoke detectors that quickly identify particles in the air that indicate the presence of smoke. Yet, smoke isn't the only cause of particles in the air, so it's important that smoke detectors are not overly sensitive and incorrectly sound the alarm. (How many people on Earth disconnect their smoke detectors because of too many experiences with piercing sounds from burnt toast or steam from a shower?)

On Earth, smoke detectors that take too long to determine the presence of smoke can mean a matter of life and death. Smoke detectors that have been disconnected due to false alarms literally do no good for anyone. The motivation to improve smoke detection on the ISS has helped scientists better understand smoke, fire, and their detection. And more important for those of us on Earth, that increased understanding is beginning to influence the design of better smoke detectors!