Case Studies Category: Aerospace

A private aerospace manufacturer of rockets and spacecraft for commercial and military use commissioned Air Innovations to develop a state-of-the-art environmental control system to support various capsule launches. The client sought an active redundant solution to protect priceless military payloads from extreme ambient conditions as the payloads were transported between multiple facilities and the launch […]

Introduction A private aerospace developer of reusable rocket engines for commercial, civil, national security, and human spaceflight, was referred to Air Innovations through connections in the aerospace industry. The company was commissioning an environmental control unit (ECU) to support its progressive mission to build safe, low-cost space rockets for civil, commercial, and defense customers. The […]

Setting The Scene Humans have been enthralled with space for centuries, and in the latter half of the 20th century, we finally overcame gravity to make space exploration a reality. The universal gains from studying space over the last 50 years have been immeasurable. First, we have a greater understanding of the Earth’s history and […]

Lockheed Martin, leader in space innovation, asked Air Innovations to customize an aerospace environmental control unit (ECU) to support the Orion program’s space capsule while earth-side. The system would need to protect the capsule during transportation on the ground, as well as in the air aboard a Super Guppy, until the unit was connected to […]

The Challenge: The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) recently came to Air Innovations® to design and manufacture a mobile thermostatting unit (MTU) [also known as a portable environmental control system]. This MTU would need to condition 100% of the air for the payload and would be exposed to ambient conditions of -15° to 33°C (5°-91°F) […]

The Challenge: Our aerospace customer challenged us with designing and manufacturing a trailer-mounted, portable environmental control system (PECS) that was self-powered (generators included) with 100% redundancy. The PECS needed to condition the rocket on the way to the launchpad. The aerospace environmental control unit (ECU) needed to control temperature to ±2°F and keep humidity levels […]

The Challenge Air Innovations was tasked with creating an aerospace environmental control unit (ECU) to support various needs of a major aerospace industry client. This client is located in close proximity to the ocean, which makes salt corrosion a concern. The ECU would need to be protected against the salt environment in order to preserve longevity. […]

The Challenge: A prime aerospace and defense corporation came to us with a calibration system challenge in their airborne laser defense system. The calibration system needed to mount inside a modified Boeing-747 designed as a missile defense system to destroy tactical ballistic missiles. The missile defense system used two kilowatt-class Target Illuminator Lasers for target […]

The Challenge: Air Innovations Environmental Control Unit on Way to Launch Air Innovations’ client and NASA partner, Orbital Sciences Corp. (now Northrop Grumman), needed to condition the key stages of the Antares rocket system – including its payload and core – during pre-launch. The rocket would be outfitted with its payload about a mile from the […]