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The Internal Thermal Control System (ITCS) has been developed jointly by Boeing Corporation, Huntsville, Alabama and Honeywell Engines & Systems, Torrance, California to meet the internal thermal control needs for the International Space Station (ISS). The ITCS provides heat removal for the critical life support systems and thermal conditioning for numerous experiment racks. The ITCS will be fitted on a number of modules on the ISS. The first US Element containing the ITCS, Node 1, was launched in December 1998. Since Node 1 does not contain a pump to circulate the fluid it was not filled with ITCS fluid until after the US Laboratory Module was installed. The second US Element module, US Laboratory Module, which contains the pumps and all the major ITCS control hardware, was launched in February 2001. The third US Element containing the ITCS, the US Airlock, was launched in July 2001.

As carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) become more integrated into the design of large single piece aircraft structures, aircraft manufacturers are demanding higher speed and efficiency in Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) deposition systems. To facilitate the manufacturing of large surface area and low contour parts (wing skins, in this case) at a high production rate, Electroimpact has developed a new AFP head consisting of 20 1.5 inch wide pre-impregnated carbon tows. The new head design has been named the ‘OH20’, short for ‘One and a Half Inch, 20 Tows’. This AFP head format creates a deposition swath over 30 inches wide when all 20 tows are active. A total of four of these AFP heads have been integrated with a quick change robotic tool changer on two high speed, high acceleration, and high accuracy moving beam gantries. All head CFRP spool loading, maintenance, and cleaning can be accomplished in a maintenance cell while the other AFP head is depositing CFRP in the part cell.