1. What PYRION is
A plain introduction: what the project does, who made it and why.
What PYRION does, in one page
NASA has run many combustion experiments in microgravity and published their data in PSI, the Physical Sciences Informatics archive. A question that matters for spacecraft and for a Moon base is: does what NASA measured apply to the condition I care about? A condition here means three things: how much oxygen is in the air, how high the pressure is, and what gravity there is.
PYRION answers that question with a deterministic engine. For each investigation it asks whether your oxygen and pressure fall inside what that investigation tested, in the same physical regime. It then gives one of four verdicts and shows exactly which values it used, with the file and location they were read from.
Where PSI has no test, PYRION says so. It does not fill the gap with a guess, and it never says a condition is safe.
How to read this manual
The manual has twelve chapters in a fixed order. Chapter 2 walks through the Envelope page, the home page, element by element. Chapters 3 to 6 explain the right-hand column, the verdicts, the plan of experiments and the Add a source dialog. Chapter 7 is TARS SI, the chat. Chapter 8 is the Bridge. Chapters 9 and 10 explain the data and the method. Chapter 11 is a glossary and chapter 12 lists what PYRION does not claim.
Every topic about something on screen has a Show me button. It takes you to the page and outlines the element. In the ? menu, Help mode does the reverse: turn it on, click any element, and its topic opens.
If a sentence in this manual describes something that is not built, it says so. Nothing here describes an unbuilt feature as working.
Three promises, enforced by code
The verdict is deterministic. The same condition and the same data always give the same verdict and the same fingerprint. A language model never decides a verdict.
Every number has a source. A value comes with the NASA file and location it was read from, and a validator locates it in the source by code.
PYRION says what it does not know. Where PSI has no test, or where the records do not state what is needed, the answer is "insufficient evidence" or "no PSI test in this regime". It says "in PSI", never "no data exists".
What is PYRION?
PYRION ranks the NASA combustion investigations in PSI (Physical Sciences Informatics) by how well each one applies to a condition you choose: an oxygen level, a pressure and a gravity regime. It also shows where the measured evidence ends.
Every verdict is computed by a deterministic engine from values read out of the NASA sources. A language model never decides a verdict. Where PSI has no test, PYRION says so; it never fills the gap with a guess.
PYRION is a hackathon project (NASA Space Apps 2026, Flame in Freefall), not a NASA product.
Why page overview
What it is. A short page about why PYRION exists.
What it shows. The motivation and thanks.
How to use it. Read it for context.
Example. Read it before a demo.
What it does not do. It contains no data.
Thank you section
What it is. The closing section.
What it shows. Thanks to the people who helped.
How to use it. Read it.
Example. None.
What it does not do. It is not part of the method.
Print / download as PDF
What it is. The button and the link above a chapter.
What it shows. The print dialog of your browser, where you can choose Save as PDF; the link opens the whole manual on one page.
How to use it. Click it, or open the whole manual and print.
Example. Open the whole manual and save it as PDF.
What it does not do. It prints the text on screen; it does not add images.
Search the manual
What it is. The box above the table of contents.
What it shows. Matching topics from titles, keywords and the start of each topic.
How to use it. Type two letters or more and click a result.
Example. Type zoom.
What it does not do. It is a keyword search, not an AI search; for a conversation use TARS SI.
Show me
What it is. A button under a topic.
What it shows. It goes to the page where the element lives and outlines it.
How to use it. Click it.
Example. Click it under Full screen button.
What it does not do. If the element is inside a dialog that is closed, nothing is outlined.
Table of contents
What it is. The left list of chapters and topics.
What it shows. Every chapter, with every topic under it. The chapter you are reading is open.
How to use it. Click a chapter to read it, or a topic to jump to it.
Example. Open chapter 2 and click a tile topic.
What it does not do. It lists the manual, not the pages of the site.
Open in the manual
What it is. A button in the Help mode quick view.
What it shows. Nothing new; it leaves the quick view.
How to use it. Click it to read the topic inside its chapter, with the chapters around it.
Example. Turn on Help mode, click the chart, then open it in the manual.
What it does not do. It does not turn Help mode off.