Balloons & UAV's
ILC has designed and manufactured a number of inflatable aerostructures and balloons for use in earths stratosphere and planetary environments. These ultra lightweight structures are manufactured from high performance materials to meet the demands of the environments in which they fly. Whether it is the sulfuric acid in the Venus atmosphere or the high intensity UV in the earth's stratosphere, ILC develops materials, leak-free seams, and assemblies to enable unusual missions.
Some of our products include:
- Venus balloon for JPL and NASA Wallops. This balloon system is being developed for supporting scientific instruments in the study of Venus. ILC designed & manufactured the balloon which is impervious to sulfuric acid, can withstand high temperature operation and is durable.
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Mars Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with the University of Kentucky and NASA LaRC. ILC designed and manufactured inflatable rigidizable wings for test as a Mars airplane. Wings were deployed and rigidized at high altitudes in high altitude balloon tests. -
Stratospheric airships for Lockheed Martin). ILC has developed several airship envelopes for stratospheric application including MDA HAA, DARPA ISIS, AULDB, HALE-D, etc.
For more information on ILC's airship and UAV products click on the pictures below:
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VALOR Balloon Launch & Leakage Testing (JPL) |
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BIG BLUE Rigidizable UAV Wing High Altitude Flight Experiemtn (University of Kentucky) |
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Stratospheric Airships (Lockheed Martin) |








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