Enabling Technology
Atair Aerospace, Inc. is developing new inventive technology for flexible, non-woven, composite textiles and related parafoil/parachute designs and construction. Atair's composite fabric replaces the ripstop nylon that has remained unchanged as the basic building block of parachutes for over half a century. This new fabric is created by sandwiching an engineered pattern of high-strength fibers between layers of ultra-thin polymer foil and then fusing them under extreme heat and pressure.

Initial testing, conducted by the University of Alberta, revealed the material to be 300% stronger, 600% less stretchable, and 68% lighter than conventional ZP nylon.

Using current production methods, ripstop nylon canopies distort in the air and must rely on sewn-in fabric tapes to restrain the fabric into a shape closer to the one modeled. This adds significant packing volume, construction complexity, and introduces cumulative sewing tolerance errors into construction. Atair Aerospace's composite textile and inventive construction technology results in significantly stronger fabric panels that hold their shape under tension without the need for taped reinforcement.

Atair is combining these developments in materials technology with their high-efficiency tensioned parafoil designs and inventive construction techniques. This new materials technology will pave the way for the next generation of parachutes, particularly practical and light weight parafoils for extremely heavy cargo weights, as well as a host of other advanced capability parachutes ranging from UAV recovery to personnel. If you require the lightest weight, smallest pack volume, highest efficiency, waterproof, mildew proof, and UV resistant parachute, you need Atair's Composite technology.