Impco Technologies Unit Wins NASA Contract

Impco Technologies Inc.’s Quantum Technologies unit won a contract worth more than $1 million to make hydrogen and oxygen tanks for fuel-cell-powered planes being built by NASA for environmental research.

The Irvine division of Impco will work with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration on light tanks for planes being built to fly for as long as six months and as high as 60,000 feet, said Alan Niedzwiecki, a Quantum executive.

Quantum also is working on hydrogen-storage systems for vehicles with General Motors Corp. Fuel cells combine hydrogen and oxygen in a chemical reaction to generate electricity. Under ideal conditions using pure hydrogen, the cells emit little more than water vapor as a by-product.