Technical Fibre Products, a speciality wet-laid nonwoven manufacturer, producing a diverse range of high performance veils and mats for an array of challenging applications, has announced that its advanced nonwovens, fine glass veil, is used in NASA’s Jason-3 Earth observation satellite.

The Advanced Microwave Radiometer is part of the Jason-3 mission and was successfully launched on January 17, 2016. It is the result of collaboration between NASA, NOAA, CNES and Eumetsat and represents the latest in a series of satellites dedicated to measuring the global sea surface height. The satellite is expected to make detailed sea-level measurements with a view to gaining greater insight into ocean circulation as well as climate change.

TFP fine glass veil was supplied to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and can be found in the high temperature insulation patch on the satellite’s advanced microwave radiometer. The glass veil is used as the internal separation layers within the insulation patch, an essential part of the thermal management of the satellite.

Orbital manoeuvres can temporarily align the sun near the axis of the parabolic reflector of the radiometer. Concentrated sunlight then heats small areas of insulation. Conventional insulation cannot withstand this heating. The high temperature insulation patch, containing the nonwoven veil, withstands this heating and protects the vulnerable, conventional multi-layer insulation from overheating, according to a press release.

The material used on Jason-3 encompasses carbon, aramid, glass, thermoplastic and metal coated nonwovens as well as nonwovens created using more speciality fibres such as quartz, silicon carbide and pure metals. The diversity of fibre types and their associated properties enables the nonwovens to be used across a wide variety of industries ranging from aerospace and defence to automotive, energy, industrial, construction and healthcare. (GK)