ILC Dover

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ILC Dover
legal form Limited partnership
Seat Frederica , Delaware
Website https://www.ilcdover.com/

ILC Apollo spacesuit (here worn by Buzz Aldrin )

ILC Dover is an American technology manufacturer based in Frederica , Delaware . ILC develops high-performance materials and technology for the air - and space travel , the military and the chemical - and pharmaceutical industry .

ILC was awarded the contract for the development and production of space suits for NASA , which have been developed by ILC since the Apollo program up to the present day. ILC also manufactures modules of extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) driven by astronauts on spacewalks (EVA) on Space Shuttle missions and outside the International Space Station is worn. Other ILC products for NASA are the airbag landing system for the Mars Pathfinder and Mars Exploration Rover (MER) and the airbag landing system for the Crew Exploration Vehicle Orion .

Together with NASA, ILC is also involved in the development of deployable antennas, sun protection and radiation shields, solar systems, air locks and inflatable shelters.

The company also equips the US military and the chemical industry with CBRN masks, PAPR protective equipment and the pharmaceutical industry with powder containment solutions.

history

ILC Dover was originally founded as a subsidiary of the International Latex Corporation , which was founded in 1932 by Abram Spanel and later became known as Playtex , best known for making women's underwear. The International Latex Corporation provided latex products such as assault boats, life rafts and canteens to the US armed forces during World War II . In 1947 the International Latex Corporation split into four divisions, one of which, the metals division, eventually became ILC Dover.

At the time, ILC was based in Dover , Delaware, specializing in high pressure helmets and high pressure suits for the US Navy and Air Force.

In 1965, ILC (then known as the Government and Industrial Division of the International Latex Corporation) received the prime contract for the A7L - Apollo Lunar spacesuit , based on its unique approach to developing flexible connections in air-filled suits. ILC designed and manufactured the suit that astronauts wore as part of the Apollo program, including Neil Armstrong on the first lunar walk. By 1969, the workforce at ILC had grown to 900 as the space program was supported by the production of Apollo spacesuits and a sun shield to protect Skylab, the first US space station. Hamilton Standard was hired to oversee the manufacture of ILC suits because ILC had no experience with government contracts.

M40 respirator

In 1974 the Skylab program ended and ILC had to diversify its product range . That same year, ILC delivered its first aircraft to the US Air Force for use at Cudjoe Key Air Force Station . The company then focused on personal protective equipment . In later years, protective equipment development has expanded to include military chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) masks and hood systems (e.g. M43, M40, MBU-19 / P). The M40 / M42 masks developed by ILC Dover became the standard field mask of the US Army; as of 2010, over two million pieces were produced and sold.

In 1977, ILC Dover, in collaboration with Hamilton Standard, began developing and manufacturing the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (k), the space suit that astronauts wear during spacecraft missions (EVA).

In the late 1970s, ILC developed the Demilitarization Protective Ensemble (DPE). This met the needs of the US Army for a standard pressurized suit with full encapsulation for maintenance personnel at a chemical weapons site. The DPE was delivered to the army in 1979 and has been in service for decades since then. From the technology used in the manufacture of the DPE, ILC developed a multi-purpose protective suit that continued into the 2010s by Public Health Canada, Boston University , USAMRIID , the Center for Disease Control , industrial companies DuPont , Dow and Georgia Pacific has been used.

In the early 1990s, ILC was involved in the design and manufacture of aerostats and blimps that were used in the northwestern United States and western Canada to retrieve wood from mountainous areas that were inaccessible by road.

In the same decade, ILC entered the pharmaceutical industry and developed and produced flexible safety systems that were used to improve operator safety and ensure product purity in the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients.

In 1994 and 1995 ILC received contracts with Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik and the American Blimp Corporation for the manufacture of external cladding for the company's semi-rigid airships , impact airships and other airships. In the following decade, the ILC continued to produce airships. In 2001, ILC, in collaboration with TCOM and Uretek, developed and produced the world's largest airship pressure vehicle for Cargolifters in Germany.

ILC Dover developed airbag landing system of Opportunity on Mars

In 1994 NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory commissioned ILC with the development and manufacture of the airbag landing system for the Mars Pathfinder , which successfully cushioned the Pathfinder landing on July 4, 1997. In 2003, the ILC's airbag system enabled the Spirit and Opportunity to land safely during the Mars Exploration Rover missions.

At the beginning of 2010, the company entered into a production contract with the US arms company Lockheed Martin , which provided the US military with blimps for the war in Afghanistan and Iraq .

EMU ( Extravehicular Mobility Unit ) during an external mission (EVA)

Spacesuits

When the Apollo program began, ILC was the designer and manufacturer of the pressure suit for NASA . In all missions from Apollo , Skylab to Space Shuttle missions and ISS missions , the space suit was needed to protect astronauts from dangers in Earth orbit and on the lunar surface. These dangers include the vacuum environment of space , extreme temperatures between −250 and 250 degrees Fahrenheit , the influence of micrometeorites and debris from orbit as well as moondust or regolith . Above the 63,000- foot threshold, spacesuits are required to deliver oxygen and provide an envelope for the human body by keeping its body fluids in a liquid state.

Apollo and Skylab

ILC began supplying spacesuits for the Apollo program in 1966. The first shipments of suits did not go well with tests, and NASA initially canceled its contract with ILC and Hamilton Standard. NASA restarted the program to develop a spacesuit for the Apollo program, initially experimenting with hard suits. ILC and Hamilton Standard submitted competing designs this time around, with ILC winning the only award based on its flexible, tight-fitting design that included water-cooled underwear, a blue inner print layer and a white nylon layer to protect the suits from stones. Hamilton received a separate contract for the life support backpack unit. ILC was further requested to remove all combustible material from spacesuits after the Apollo 1 fire. After a nationwide research, ILC decided on Beta fabric ( multilayer insulation ), a refractory silica fiber fabric. Apollo spacesuits were tailored for each of the astronauts in the program, and ILC produced fifteen suits for each of the twelve crewed flights conducted. Nine of these were made for the three astronauts who comprised the crew (one suit for flight, one for training, one as a replacement) and two suits were made for each of the three members of the back-up crew (one suit for the Flight and one for training). Twenty space missions were carried out during the Apollo program and ten missions during the Skylab. The Apollo suits were used on the lunar surface for a total of 160 hours.

Shuttle

The spacesuit used for EVAs during the shuttle missions was the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), which is made up of two parts: the ILC-made spacesuit assembly (SSA) and the life support system ( previously) made by Hamilton Sundstrand ( LSS). The SSA consists of individual components that have been assembled to fit each astronaut. Since the first EVA in 1983, 216 space travelers had carried out 74 space missions with the two systems until the beginning of 2011. The total number of hours of these EVAs was more than 470 hours in space.

International Space Station (ISS)

The Shuttle-Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) has been modified for use on the International Space Station (ISS) to ensure greater mobility, better tactile capabilities of the glove and a longer service life. By February 2011, a total of 104 EVAs had occurred on the ISS, which corresponds to a total of 650 hours in space.

literature

  • Nicholas Monchaux: Spacesuit - Fashioning Apollo. 2011.WIT Press. ISBN = 978-0262015202

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.ilcdover.com/contact/
  2. ↑ Elizabeth Howell 2019-09-24T16: 00: 00Z: NASA Wants to Test New Moon Spacesuits on the Space Station in 2023. Retrieved January 5, 2020 .
  3. ^ Sue Nelson: The women who sewed the suits for the space race. Retrieved January 5, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b c Durantine, Peter, "This Suit Was Made for Walkin ', The News Journal , 5/5/06" , Delaware Online. Retrieved February 10, 2011.
  5. ↑ a b c d e NASA Tech Briefs, "Space Suit Spins" . Retrieved February 1, 2011.
  6. ^ NASA, Mars Pathfinder Air Bag Landing Test . Retrieved February 11, 2011.
  7. ^ NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, How to Land Softly on a Hard Planet . Retrieved February 1, 2011.
  8. ↑ NASA / NSF / ILC Dover Inflatable Habitat Blog - January 2008. Retrieved January 5, 2020 .
  9. ^ Spampinato, Phil, "Overview of ILC Dover Habitat Programs and Technology," Future in Space (FISO) Colloquium, Jul 2010. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
  10. ↑ SpaceRef, NASA, NSF, ILC Dover Inflatable Habitat Blog, Jan 2008 . Retrieved February 11, 2011.
  11. ↑ Wood, James P., ed. Containment in the Pharmaceutical Industry , Marcel Dekker, Inc., 2001.
  12. ↑ a b c d ILC Dover, "ILC Milestones" . Retrieved February 1, 2011.
  13. ↑ a b Bivens, Terry, "ICL (sic) Dover known for Spacesuit Design, Houston Chronicle , 12/6/87" , Houston Chronicle Archives. Retrieved February 1, 2011.
  14. ^ A b c Moon Machines - Space Suit Factory . In: Discovery Science , May 4, 2009. 
  15. ^ US Army Fact Files, "Weapons Systems, Field Protection Mask, M40 / 42 Series" . Retrieved February 1, 2011.
  16. ^ ILC Dover, PPE -Personal-Protection-Equipment . Retrieved February 11, 2011.
  17. ^ Airship Blimp Resources, "ILC Dover" . Retrieved February 1, 2011.
  18. ^ Space Daily, "ILC Dover Airbags Cushion MER Spirit Landing on Mars, Mars Daily " . Retrieved February 1, 2011.
  19. ↑ Delaware company builds unmanned airships for US military. In: WHYY. Retrieved January 5, 2020 (American English).
  20. ↑ High Altitude Platforms Market is Likely to Grow Due to Rising Demand For TCOM, Raytheon, Lindstrand Technologies, Israel Aviation Industries, Worldwide Eros, Lockheed Martin, Aerostar International, ILC Dover by 2019-2025. Retrieved January 5, 2020 (American English).
  21. ↑ a b c NASA History Program Office, Human Space Flight, Spacesuits . Retrieved February 10, 2011.
  22. ↑ Apollo Operations Handbook Extra Vehicular Mobility Unit, CSD-A-789- (1) . NASA, 1971.
  23. ↑ a b c ILC Dover, Spacesuits . Retrieved February 10, 2011.
  24. ↑ a b c NASA, Directorates, Space Operations . Retrieved February 10, 2011.