US Patent Issued to Aerostar International on Dec. 23 for "Manufacturing of polyethylene thin films for high-altitude balloons" (Idaho, California Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,502,843, issued on Dec. 23, was assigned to Aerostar International LLC (Sioux Falls, S.D.).

"Manufacturing of polyethylene thin films for high-altitude balloons" was invented by Kevin Roach (Sandpoint, Idaho) and Jacques Gagne (Los Gatos, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Aspects of the disclosure relate to manufacturing a balloon envelope for use in a stratospheric balloon system. For instance, a stream of polyethylene mixture is extruded through an extruder in order to orient molecules of polymer chains of polyethylene and to provide an oriented film. The oriented film is passed through an electron beam and thereby crosslinking the...