Chinese astronauts ‘playing with fire’ in their space station; You can’t do that on the International Space Station

Chinese astronauts conducted a surprise in-space experiment using open flames at the Tiangong Space StationAn impossible test on the International Space Station.

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Astronauts Gui Haichao and Zhou Yangzhou lit a candle during a live lecture broadcast from China’s Tiangong Space Station on Sept. 21 to demonstrate how flames burn in microgravity, Space.com reported. Surprisingly, the flames appear almost spherical, rather than the tear-shaped flames we know on Earth.

Candles lit on the ground produce a flame formed by convection caused by buoyancy, with hot air rising and cold air falling.

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However, the combustion convection current is weak in the microgravity environment of LEO. This means that the fire spreads in all directions, resulting in spherical fireballs.

The live-streamed lecture was the fourth so-called “Tiangong Chapter” hosted by the Chinese space station. The astronauts interacted with students in five classrooms across China, demonstrating a series of microgravity phenomena. As happened in previous semesters Astronauts have proven that many physical processes behave differently than they do on Earth.

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However, the candle experiment, in which a goi strikes a match to produce an open flame to light the candle, is likely to be met with surprise. By participants on the International Space Station (ISS), which have strict rules regarding flammable materials and open flames.

The strict fire safety procedures aboard the International Space Station are partly a response to a major fire on the Russian Mir space station in 1997.

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Combustion in microgravity has been the subject of many experiments on the ISS, but usually a specially designed integrated combustion system is used, which keeps the fire isolated and contained.

Tiangong also has a Combustion Experiment Rack (CER) to conduct serious research in this field.

Watch the video of Chinese astronauts playing with fire

European press