Precisely characterizing the changes in surface condition of material combusted in microgravity environment were made using ultrasonic imaging and TableCurve 3D. A comparison was made of the material specimens before and after microgravity combustion experiments. It was important to characterize the changed surface profile after the burn. These experiments were performed to better understand how flames spread in the microgravity environment such as would be present on the International Space Station. This type of information is critical for safety of astronauts on the Space Station.

Ultrasonic imaging technique were used to acquire precise information about the surface profile before and after the burn. This involved acquiring precise ultrasonic wave time-of-flight data across the entire surface. The time-of-flight measurements (x,y position and time-of-flight (msec)) were converted to surface depression (microns). The experiment was done on the Space Shuttle flight# STS-54. The data was then imported into TableCurve 3D for 3D viewing and data manipulation.