US: NCFI's spray polyurethane foam insulation (SPF) was successfully used in the second stage liquid fuel tank for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Orion spacecraft launch and test flight on 5 December 2014.
"NASA and the United Launch Alliance (ULA - the Boeing and Lockheed consortium), uses our polyurethane foam insulation, specially-formulated for high temperature and extreme pressure applications, on their external liquid fuel tanks to prevent condensation and the formation of ice on the tanks that could come free and harm the main vehicle," said Clarence Tolbert, vice president with NCFI. "The fuel tanks of the Delta IV Heavy three-core rocket contain liquid hydrogen and oxygen and are actually a tank within a tank covered by a skin onto which our foam insulation is spray applied. Nothing covers the foam, so it's pretty obvious as the golden yellow, or slightly orange acreage on the exterior of Orion."
Orion's first test flight took the unmanned vehicle to an altitude of just under 6000km with a re-entry speed of up to 32,000km/hr and temperatures up to 2200°C. Previously NCFI worked on the space shuttle's External Tank Programme.
