Aerostar utilizes its fifty years of
inflatable manufacturing knowledge and technology to engineer custom inflatables
as solutions for unique applications.

These radar calibration reflector
spheres have been manufactured since
the very earliest days of Raven
Industries and Aerostar International
still manufactures them today.

In the 1950's they were made from
metalized Mylar film and today we use
our proprietary Diamond Weave Ripstop
Nylon with the metalized laminate.

In the mid 1970's, Raven Industries (our
parent company) was hired to make a
mock payload to train the space
shuttle astronauts on how to handle
very delicate cargo.

This weightless Hubble Space
Telescope Training Article represents
another application where Raven
met the demanding needs of NASA
to allow for thorough training
of astronauts prior to missions

Our proprietary helium holding fabric
allowed us to make airtight / helium
inflatables replicas, which would
exactly duplicate how the Hubble
Telescope pieces would react in the
weightlessness of space.

Since that time Aerostar has continued
to build additional space inflatables,
replicating various types of payloads.

There are many other applications
for which our inflatable products
can be used. Some of the
applications are air cushions,
air bladders, NBC inflated
protection, gunnery range
marker/targets.

The 10’ sphere pictured at right
is used as a gunnery range
reference marker/target.

Lockheed Martin uses inflatable
"Air Cushion" when mooring
420K aerostat.

The cushion was specifically
designed to match the curve
of the lower section of
the 420K aerostat perfectly.

This cold air inflatable air
cushion protects the valuable
instrumentation in the lower
section of the aerostat.