The United States Laboratory Module on the
ISS will contain the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF), designed
and built at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The
FCF is being developed to accommodate the unique challenges of
working with fluids and combustion processes in microgravity,
as well as to provide services and capabilities comparable to
those found in traditional Earth-based laboratories.
Glenn was an ideal choice for this project because of their
reputation for award-winning research, particularly in the areas
of fluids and combustion. as well as their long-standing experience
in developing experiment hardware and world-class test facilities.
Glenn engineers and scientists have been involved in designing,
producing, and managing space-based hardware and facilities
since the 1960's. As pioneers in rocket research, they had tested
high-energy propellants even before the United States officially
entered the space business. Glenn Research Center advanced the
propulsion technology that helped make space travel possible.
The Center's unique Zero Gravity Research Facility and other
drop towers and laboratories were the source of foundational
work in microgravity research. NASA's Zero Gravity Trainer aircraft,
the KC-135, operates out of NASA Glenn several weeks each year
in support of Glenn's ground-based microgravity research. Some
flights include astronauts participating in crew training so
they can have low-gravity experience with experiment hardware
and materials prior to shuttle missions. In all, these facilities
give Glenn a unique ability to develop and test microgravity
experiments.
Glenn Research Center is NASA's center of excellence for fluid
physics and combustion science and has been responsible for
153 experiments on 47 flights. In addition to providing the
new Fluids and Combustion Facility, they will be a major contributor
to the investigations onboard the FCF, in gloveboxes, and in
other ISS facilities. A forerunner of the FCF, the Glenn-developed
Combustion-Module-1 (CM-1), which flew onboard the Shuttle Columbia,
STS-83, in April, 1997, laid the groundwork for the combustion
portion of the new Fluids and Combustion Facility with several
hardware innovations.
Description of the Facility
The Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) will occupy two powered
racks on the International Space Station (ISS). It will be a permanent
modular, multiuser facility to accommodate microgravity science
experiments onboard the ISS's U.S. Laboratory Module. FCF will support
NASA Human Exploration and Development of Space program objectives
requiring sustained, systematic research in the disciplines of fluid
physics and combustion science. The two disciplines share racks
and mutually necessary hardware within FCF to dramatically reduce
costs and effectively use ISS resources. Even with the cost of FCF
development included,experimentation using FCF on the space station
will cost only half of what it did on the space shuttles.
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FIR Rack from the rear |
The Fluids Integration Rack (FIR) is
used to perform fluid physics experiments in microgravity. The FIR
is designed to be easily reconfigured on-orbit similar to an optics
bench in a scientist's laboratory. The FIR will permit a wide range
of fluid investigations for microscopic imaging to particle tracking.
The FIR offers the largest open volume for configuration of unique
experiments on-board the ISS.
 |
CIR Rack |
The Combustion Integration Rack
(CIR) is used to perform combustion experiments in microgravity.
The CIR is designed to be easily reconfigured on-orbit to accommodate
a wide variety of combustion experiments. The CIR is the only facility
on-board the ISS to perform combustion research experimentation.
Read the Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Principal
Investigator's Guide to the CIR Payload Accommodations document for more information or the
public relations brochure Combustion Research in the Fluids and
Combustion Facility.
Project Links:
• ISS
Reference Guide
• ISS
Program Scientist Toolbox
• ISS
Program Homepage
• Structural
Dynamics Lab
• Microgravity
Emissions Lab
• Acoustical Testing Lab
•
Electromagnetic Interface Test Lab
•
ISS Payloads Office Documents
•
NASA Image Exchange
•
NASA Human Spaceflight |
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