A study of the different mechanisms controlling the initial
stages of a fire in a micro-gravity environment is presented.
Three different processes are deemed important for evaluation
of material flammability, piloted ignition, co-current and
counter-current flame spread. The three processes are
evaluated in terms of thermal theory and the different material
properties controlling these combustion processes are
extracted. Experimental results obtained from ground testing,
drop towers, parabolic flights and sounding rocket experiments
serve to validate the present approach
