Advanced Aerogel Insulation Products

Aspen Systems, Inc.

Marlborough, MA

Aspen Systems, Inc., developed an improved aerogel-based flexible thermal insulation system. This system provides cost effective and easier-to-handle alternatives to various types of multilayer and evacuated powder insulations now used on cryogenic equipment as well as many other applications.

• Aspen Systems, Inc. and their spin off company, Aspen Aerogels, Inc. attracted a total of $36 million in venture capital to commercialize the advanced aerogel products.
• During 2003, Aspens Aerogels, Inc., insulation has penetrated into markets heretofore considered impractical.
• In recognition of its success in bringing an extremely promising and wide-ranging platform technology called aerogels to the commercialization stage, Aspen Systems, Inc. received the 1999 SBIR Technology of the Year, Manufacturing and Materials, and a 2003 R&D 100 Award along with NASA KSC and Aspen Aerogels, Inc. as co-recipients.

• The year 2002 marked the beginning of commercial viability for aerogel insulating materials after being essentially a laboratory curiosity with enormous commercial potential for over seven decades.
• This milestone was achieved as a result of groundbreaking research by Aspen Systems, Inc. that was initiated by SBIR funding from Kennedy Space Center in 1993.
• A phalanx of technological barriers preventing the leap from the laboratory to the consumer were overcome using close to $5 millon in SBIR funding from NASA and many other agencies since 1994.

• Aspen Systems responded to NASA's need for a flexible, durable, easy-to-use aerogel system for cryogenic insulation for Space Shuttle launch applications on the launch vehicles, Space Shuttle upgrades, interplanetary propulsion, and life support equipment.
• The impact of these materials has cut across a wide range of industries and applications including military, aerospace, residential and commercial building, refrigeration and cryogenics, apparel, oil and gas, fire protection/blast mitigation, and many others.

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