THE PROPOSED RESEARCH AIMS TO DEVELOP AN APPARATUS TO AUGMENT OR REPLACE THE CURRENT NASA STANDARD 6001 TEST 1 USED TO SCREEN MATERIALS FOR SPACE FLIGHT APPLICATIONS. TEST 1 IS THE MOST WIDELY USED TEST IN THE NASA STANDARD HOWEVER IT DOES NOT ACCOUNT FOR THE FLOW INFLUENCE THAT WOULD OCCUR IN A MICROGRAVITY FLAME SPREAD TEST. THIS UNDESIRABLE FEATURE OF TEST 1 DOES NOT ACCOUNT FOR THE FACT THAT OXIDIZER FLOW IS A DOMINANT INFLUENCE ON MICROGRAVITY FLAME SPREAD. THE INFLUENCE OF THE MICROGRAVITY OXIDIZER FLOW FIELD HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED IN PRIOR RESEARCH. THE SUBJECT OF THIS PROPOSAL THE NARROW CHANNEL APPARATUS (NCA) HAS BEEN USED TO STUDY FUNDAMENTAL FEATURES OF MATERIAL FLAMMABILITY UNDER REDUCED BUOYANCY CONDITIONS. THE NCA PERMITS RAPID AND EFFICIENT MATERIAL FLAMMABILITY TESTING WHILE ALSO TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE LOW AIR/OXIDIZER FLOWS BETWEEN APPROXIMATELY 5 50 CM/S THAT ARE ENCOUNTERED IN MICROGRAVITY. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH PROJECT WILL EXAMINE PREDOMINANTLY OPPOSED FLOW FLAME SPREAD BUT IS NOT RESTRICTED TO THIS GEOMETRY. REGARDING THE SAMPLE MATERIALS TO BE TESTED THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL FOCUS ON FLAME SPREAD MEASUREMENTS OVER: (1) THICK FUELS (2) NON-CELLULOSIC MATERIALS AND (3) MATERIALS HAVING COMPLEX STRUCTURE THAT MAY INCLUDE CELLULOSIC. REGARDING THE SAMPLE SIZE AND GEOMETRY THE PROPOSED RESEARCH PROJECT WILL EXAMINE: (1) WIDE RECTANGULAR SAMPLES AND (2) RECTANGULAR SAMPLES OF SEVERAL THICKNESSES. BOTH WIDTH AND THICKNESS CAN BE VARIED INDEPENDENTLY. SAMPLES TESTED WILL IN GENERAL BE MADE AS WIDE AS POSSIBLE IN ORDER TO MINIMIZE 3-D EDGE EFFECTS. THE LARGE MSU NCA TEST SECTION LENGTH ALLOWS FOR THE STUDY OF LONG SAMPLES. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH INTENDS TO EXAMINE SEVERAL FEATURES THAT WERE NOT EXAMINED IN THE PROJECT THAT PRECEDED THE CURRENTLY PROPOSED PROJECT. AMONG THESE ARE: (1) THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHEMICAL EXHAUST SPECIES (2) THE SAMPLE DEFORMATION AND DEGRADATION THAT OCCURS FOR THICK SOLID FUELS (WHICH CAN LEAD TO FLAME TUNNELING IN A NEWLY DISCOVERED FLAME SPREAD REGIME) (3) THE DETAILED NATURE OF THE FLAME/SURFACE INTERACTION INCLUDING IN-DEPTH PYROLYSIS IN-DEPTH BUBBLE AND VOID FORMATION IN-DEPTH CRACK AND FISSURE FORMATION AND SWELLING AND NON-ELASTIC (I.E VISCOELASTIC) MATERIAL BEHAVIOR DURING THE COUPLED FLAME SPREAD AND MATERIAL DEGRADATION PROCESS. FOR THIS PROJECT WE INTEND TO USE OUR RECENTLY ACQUIRED CAPABILITY FOR TAKING HIGH-QUALITY AND HIGH-RESOLUTION POST-TEST IMAGES OF BURNED SAMPLES. THE RESEARCH BEGUN ON THIS TOPIC IN LATE 2019 HAS LED TO AN IN-PREPARATION MANUSCRIPT (TO BE SUBMITTED FOR PUBLICATION IN FIRE AND MATERIALS IN LATE 2020) ON THE SUBJECT OF IN-DEPTH MATERIAL DEGRADATION AND ITS INFLUENCE ON FLAME SPREAD. THIS FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION HAS VEXED FLAME SPREAD RESEARCH FROM ITS VERY BEGINNINGS IN THE LATE 1950S. THE CURRENT LIMITATION IS TO 2-D IMAGES WHICH PRECLUDES THE FULLER 3-D VIEWS OF THE ACTUAL PROCESS. IF POSSIBLE IT WOULD BE DESIRABLE TO DEPLOY ADVANCED DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES SUCH AS CT-SCAN AND RELATED TECHNIQUES.