UTILIZATION OF THE SMOKE AEROSOL MEASUREMENT EXPERIMENT DATA FOR ADVANCED MODELING AND SIMULATION OF SMOKE GENERATION IN MICRO-GRAVITYFIRE PRODUCES HEAT SMOKE AND TOXIC GASES THAT CAN THREATEN HUMAN LIFE. FIRE DETECTION IS A KEY STEP IN MITIGATING THE RISK TO LIFE AND MATERIAL. SMOKE FROM FIRES CONTAINS PARTICLES THAT VARY IN SIZE FROM 10 NANOMETERS TO 10 MICRONS IN DIAMETER. FOR EXAMPLE SMOKE GENERATED DURING THE SMOLDERING STAGE OF A FIRE TEND TO BE FAIRLY LARGE 0.3 TO 10 M WHEREAS SMOKE FROM THE FLAMING STAGE ARE MUCH SMALLER 0.01 TO 0.3 M. PHOTO-ELECTRIC AND IONIZATION SMOKE DETECTORS ARE DESIGNED TO DETECT THESE COMBUSTION PARTICLES. HOWEVER THESE FIRE DETECTION SYSTEMS WERE ALL DESIGNED BASED ON SMOKE GENERATION OR FIRE DYNAMICS IN THE TERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENT WHERE GRAVITY GENERATES BUOYANCY. WITHOUT BUOYANCY MIXING AND HEAT TRANSFER ARE REDUCED THE TIME-TEMPERATURE HISTORY OF THE COMBUSTION VAPORS (OR PARTICLE PRECURSORS) AND PARTICLE TRAJECTORIES ARE SIGNIFICANTLY ALTERED CHANGING THE COMPOSITION OF THE SMOKE. THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE BURNING MATERIAL ALSO AFFECTS THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SMOKE GENERATED. FOR EXAMPLE KAPTON IS REGULARLY USED IN A VARIETY OF SPACE APPLICATIONS. FROM THERMAL COVERING IN THE ULTRA HEAVY COSMIC RAY EXPERIMENT TO WIRING INSULATION IN SPACECRAFT. STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS KAPTON AGES POORLY AND IS A RELATIVELY HIGH RISK FOR FIRE. AN ALTERNATIVE IS PYRELL A FIRE RETARDANT MODIFIED POLYESTER POLYURETHANE FOAM. WHILE KAPTON TENDS TO PRODUCE SPHERICAL PARTICLES WHEN BURNING PYRELL TENDS TO PRODUCE FRACTAL-LIKE AGGREGATES. SPHERES RODS AND FLAKES HAVE DIFFERENT TRANSPORT PROPERTIES AND THEIR RATE OF COLLISION AND GROWTH ARE SENSITIVE TO PARTICLE SHAPE. RECENT NASA INVESTIGATIONS INTO SMOKE GENERATION WERE PERFORMED ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS). THE SMOKE AEROSOL MEASUREMENT EXPERIMENT (SAME) PROVIDES AEROSOL DATA ON THE BURNING OF SEVERAL MATERIALS IN A SPACECRAFT LOW GRAVITY ENVIRONMENT. THE DATA REVEAL DYNAMICS AND PROPERTIES DIFFERENT TO THOSE IN NORMAL GRAVITY. WHEREAS PHYSICAL INVESTIGATION ABOARD THE ISS IS PROHIBITIVE NUMERICAL SIMULATION CAN BE USED TO EXPLORE THE ORIGINS OF THESE DYNAMICS OR THE RANGE OF PARAMETERS THAT AFFECT SMOKE PROPERTIES. MY RESEARCH GROUP HAS DEVELOPED A RICH SET OF MODELING TOOLS TO PREDICT THE DYNAMICS OF MOLECULAR CLUSTERS AND NANOPARTICLES IN COMPLEX FLOW SYSTEMS. BY BETTER UNDERSTANDING THE INTERACTION BETWEEN BUOYANCY HEAT TRANSFER AND PARTICLE FORMATION TRANSPORT AND GROWTH WE CAN CREATE ADVANCED MODELING AND SIMULATION TOOLS THAT ENABLE IMPROVED DESIGN OF FUTURE FIRE DETECTORS IN SPACE SYSTEMS. THIS PROPOSAL CONTAINS A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN TO DEVELOP MODELS THAT EXHIBIT A HIGH DEGREE OF FIDELITY TO THE UNDERLYING PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY AND SIMULATE LOW GRAVITY SMOKE GENERATION. THE SAME DATA ARE VALUABLE TO AEROSOL SCIENTISTS AS IT CAN BE USED TO GENERATE NEW PHYSICAL INSIGHTS INTO POLYMER PARTICLE FORMATION. TRADITIONAL FIRES YIELD A VARIETY OF COMBUSTION PRODUCTS HYDROCARBON SOOT CONDENSED WATER VAPOR ASH PARTICLES AS WELL AS UNBURNED AND/OR RE-CONDENSED ORIGINAL MATERIALS. ANALYZING THE AEROSOL PROPERTIES OF SUCH A MIXTURE IS QUITE INVOLVED AND CHALLENGING. HOWEVER THE SAME INVESTIGATION AIMS TO SHED LIGHT ON THE SMOLDERING STAGES OF A FIRE WHEN THE NUMBER AND COMPLEXITY OF THE INTERACTIONS ARE SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED E.G. PYROLYSIS NUCLEATION CONDENSATION COAGULATION AND PARTICLE TRANSPORT. IN ADDITION TO IMPROVING FIRE DETECTION IN MICROGRAVITY MISSION PROTECTION AND OUR ABILITY TO DEVELOP BETTER SAFEGUARDS FOR SPACE EXPLORATION THE SAME PROVIDES A COMPREHENSIVE DATABASE FOR USE IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND BENCHMARKING OF AEROSOL FORMATION AND GROWTH MODELS.