Providing support at every project phase [ Return towards Our competences ]

Air Liquide is with you from project design to system integration.

This upstream expertise allows us to respond more effectively to customer requirements by identifying their needs with them. A method has been developed over time of tackling every solution globally, using an approach that combines consultancy, design, commissioning and maintenance.

Pierre Crespi, Launchers and Orbital Systems Business manager

(© Air Liquide) Melfi is a refrigerated laboratory built by the ESA under the direction of NASA. It has been used since July 2006 on board the International Space Station, as storage volume for the life sciences. Before getting to that point however, it went through a large number of design and implementation stages. It was in 1989 that the ESA made overtures to us in respect of a -80°C freezer tailored for the space industry. At the outset, discussions centered on the design of an internal and stable cold source that could operate in a state of weightlessness. Based on the experience acquired on our turbines, we recommended Turbo Brayton technology, and then implemented a prototype in 1995. The qualification and certification phases followed, and the first gas turbine engine was finally delivered in 2001.