ILC Dover Celebrates Successful IRVE Inflatable Aeroshell Flight Test

Aug. 20, 2009 - PRLog -- NASA’s Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE) launched flawlessly into the blue sky over Wallops Island Virginia on Monday August 17th. The crowd gathered at the outdoor viewing site, cheered it on and began to celebrate after the Black Brant IX sounding rocket was out of sight.  But NASA and ILC engineers were still leaning forward intently at their computers waiting for signals from the inflatable aeroshell propelled 130 miles to the edge of space and traveling over 4000 mph.  A long minute went by after payload separation and finally the news “we have inflation”.  Simultaneously the monitors came alive with video feed from the two experiment cameras.  Everyone watched in wonder at the view of the protective Nextel outer covering and a small view of space and sky beyond.  A shadow of the “center body”, containing inflation system, instruments, and cameras swung by in the view and confirmed that IRVE was inflated and rotating and decelerating to earth perfectly as designed.  The engineers & technicians started to relax, but the show wasn’t over yet. IRVE continued on its vertical one-way flight to a landing zone 90 miles off the Atlantic coast.  It returned to earth gracefully without any major disturbance or signs of becoming unstable and concluded the first ever successful test of this revolutionary technology.  

ILC Dover, working in close cooperation with NASA Langley Research Center, designed and manufactured the IRVE inflatable from silicone coated high temperature fabric and a covering of ceramic fabric.  The inflatable was patterned and manufactured to tight tolerances to provide an exacting aerodynamic shape necessary for a controlled reentry.  The ceramic covering insulates the coated material from some of the heat of reentry and requires special consideration during manufacture and integration to the spacecraft.  ILC has several ongoing programs to develop and test advanced insulation, softgood structures, and novel decelerator designs for future missions. “ILC is leading the industry in developing creative design and manufacturing solutions for aeroshells” commented Dave Cadogan, Director of ILC’s Research and Technology Department.  “We are following NASA’s lead and leveraging ILC’s experience in space suits and landing systems such as the Mars Exploration Rover airbags to help develop cutting-edge materials and systems solutions for deployable reentry structures.  Our ultimate goal is to reduce the cost of space transportation with this technology”.

Inflatable aeroshells are being studied by NASA and DARPA because they have the potential to help capsules or payloads return to earth safely and economically as compared to conventional methods.  They expand the realm of what is possible for entry decent & landing systems (EDL) because they can be packed into a small volume and then are rapidly inflated.  The large surface area of the inflated aeroshell enters the atmosphere at slower speed and, as a result, maintains a lower and safer temperature.  An IRVE style Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (IAD) is envisioned for future Mars missions so NASA can land much larger payloads on the surface of Mars than is now possible.  Another use of this technology is to provide a return system for the International Space Station and bring back heavy experiments and cargo after the shuttle is retired.  Commercial space companies could use inflatables for their future flights bringing humans into space and returning them safely.  There are many programs in the future that will benefit greatly using an inflatable entry device like IRVE.  ILC is proud to have been a major contributor this successful flight.

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Since 1947, ILC has been active in the design and development of products for both government and industry. Most ILC products are comprised of softgoods materials –products that are flexible by nature and result in innovative solutions to customer problems.
Whether protecting personnel in hostile environments, containing potent pharmaceuticals, or developing unique inflatable devices, ILC has an enviable record of performance. By drawing from a blend of highly qualified personnel and a sound base of both proven and innovative technologies (the same attributes that helped us put man on the moon and cushion rovers on Mars), ILC continues to develop reliable hardware and unique softgoods.

Our Government, commercial, and NASA customers rely on ILC’s multi-disciplined technical expertise to provide innovative softgoods solutions for a wide range of applications. ILC Dover – Creating What’s Next.