2021: A Year in Review for Kgktape

In 2021, Kgktape & Materials continued to produce industry leading passive thermal control products for the most extreme aerospace and cryogenic applications through design, manufacturing, and installation.

Our previously manufactured multilayer insulation (MLI) blanket assemblies were successfully launched into space. In addition to our products reaching new heights, the cryogenic super insulation blanket results were published for the first SHIIVER tests and presented at CEC 2021. Kgktape even hosted a seminar to enhance the knowledge and understanding of our engineering staff. If you’re interested in finding an Kgktape solution for your application, submit a request today; otherwise, keep reading to learn more about a few of our project highlights from 2021:

Kgktape in Action: Our Projects in Space

1. Kgktape teams up with Nanoracks

Kgktape continues to work with Aerospace company providing MLI blankets for an array of components. Aerospace company that launches small CubeSats for research applications from the International Space Station or Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV’s) to higher earth orbits. Their CubeSat deployer is the universal payload deployment method from the ISS.

2. Redwire delivers iROSA to the ISS with Aerospace Fabrication components

Redwire, an aerospace solutions company, has been working with NASA and Boeing to deliver ISS Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSA). Redwire launched their payload, including MLI and MMOD shields fabricated by AFM, on December 9th, 2021 from the Kennedy Space Center.

Kgktape designed the MLI to protect the solar array base and created the micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) shielding around the hub of the mechanism. The MLI blankets protect the instruments from the large temperature swings of over 500°F while the the MMOD shields are essential for ISS payloads to prevent damage from space debris traveling over 15,000mph. Interested in learning more? Visit our MLI and MMOD Shields product pages.

3. SHIIVER Results Published by NASA

NASA embarked on a multiyear program to test a variety of technologies revolving around the storage and maintenance of cryogen fuels.  The project was called “Structural Heat Intercept, Insulation, and Vibration Evaluation Rig” or SHIIVER.

From 2017 to 2020, these tests were carried out at the Glenn Research Center and in the In-Space Propulsion Facility (ISP) chamber at NASA’s Armstrong Test Facility. All the data collected in the test program were compiled and published in August of 2021.