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Spinoff story
Wrapped Tanks Cut Weight on Everything from Buses to Paintball Guns
A real-world story of NASA technology finding a life beyond the mission.
About this technology
Overview
What do infant incubators, a Mars lander, and paintball guns have in common? All employ an invention developed at Glenn Research Center to cut weight from the Space Shuttles. Composite overwrapped pressure vessels, made of a liner tightly wrapped in high-strength filament, weigh half as much as all-metal pressure tanks by safely storing gases and liquids at higher pressures than was previously possible. Today, Worthington Industries, with production facilities in Pomona, California, sells them for, among many applications, fuel tanks for buses and breathing systems for firefighters.