INVAP S.E. is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

company that provides design, integration, construction and delivery of equipment, plants and devices. The company operates in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, Asia Pacific,

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, the Middle East and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, and delivers projects for nuclear, aerospace, chemical, medical, petroleum and governmental sectors. The company is an unlisted private company, the sole owner being the Province of Río Negro. Its headquarters is in San Carlos de Bariloche. As of 2023, INVAP employs some 1,700 employees, 80% of which are professionals and specialists in their field of expertise. In 2018 the company was avowed as the most important business from Argentina, winning the Diamond Konex Award.

Background

INVAP was created on September 1, 1976, as a spin-off of the Argentine Atomic Energy Commission, research laboratories division. The name INVAP is a portmanteau of the words ''inv''estigación ''ap''licada ("applied research" in Spanish).

Satellites

INVAP was the first company in

certified by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

(the US (National) Aeronautics and Space Administration) to supply space technologies.Company Overview
It constructs

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

s, payloads, and ground stations, including the SAC ("Satelites de Aplicación Científica") satellite family, developed for the Argentine space agency

CONAE The National Space Activities Commission (Spanish language , Spanish: ''Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales'', CONAE) is the civilian agency of the government of Argentina in charge of the national space programme. History Sociedad ...

. INVAP was the first company in Latin America to provide design, development, mission control and operational support. The SAC-D was put into orbit on June 9, 2011, carrying several scientific payloads, including NASA's $100 million Aquarius project, which will measure the oceans'

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

ARSAT-1 ARSAT-1 is a geostationary communications satellite operated by AR-SAT and built by the Argentine company INVAP. ARSAT-1 was launched into orbit on October 16, 2014, from French Guiana alongside Intelsat-30 satellite using an Ariane 5 rocket. I ...

- the first communications satellite entirely built in Argentina - was launched in 2014, while a second satellite in the series, ARSAT-2 was launched in September 2015.

Nuclear projects

In the field of nuclear projects, the company specializes in the design and construction of

nuclear research reactor Research reactors are nuclear fission-based nuclear reactors that serve primarily as a neutron source. They are also called non-power reactors, in contrast to power reactors that are used for nuclear power plant, electricity production, heat ge ...

s, radioisotope production plants,

nuclear fuel Nuclear fuel refers to any substance, typically fissile material, which is used by nuclear power stations or other atomic nucleus, nuclear devices to generate energy. Oxide fuel For fission reactors, the fuel (typically based on uranium) is ...

manufacturing plants, uranium enrichment facilities,

neutron The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , that has no electric charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. The Discovery of the neutron, neutron was discovered by James Chadwick in 1932, leading to the discovery of nucle ...

beam transport systems,

radiation protection Radiation protection, also known as radiological protection, is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "The protection of people from harmful effects of exposure to ionizing radiation, and the means for achieving this". Exposu ...

instrumentation,

reactor protection system A reactor protection system (RPS) is a set of nuclear safety and security components in a nuclear power plant designed to safely shut down the reactor and prevent the release of radioactive materials. The system can "trip" automatically (initiat ...

s, and modernization and refurbishment of research reactors. INVAP also conducts consultancy and research activities for nuclear power plant suppliers in areas such as nuclear reactor fuels, laser isotope separation, and reactor core reshuffling studies for nuclear power plants. INVAP has constructed and installed the following

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a Nuclear fission, fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for Nuclear power, commercial electricity, nuclear marine propulsion, marine propulsion, Weapons-grade plutonium, weapons ...

s: In 2009, INVAP and the Spanish group Isolux were pre-selected in an international tender, known as the PALLAS project. This entailed the procurement of an 80 MW nuclear reactor for the Dutch city of

Petten Petten is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Schagen, and lies about 15 km northwest of Alkmaar, on the North Sea. The population is ca. 1900. Petten's economy is based on agricu ...

(''see Petten nuclear reactor''), but in February 2010, the Dutch radiopharmaceutical producer Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG) extended the preparatory phase up to end of the year for financing. In 2010, INVAP and CITEDEF completed the development and readied for testing a method that used a

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

to remove the

radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is conside ...

components from

heavy water Heavy water (deuterium oxide, , ) is a form of water (molecule), water in which hydrogen atoms are all deuterium ( or D, also known as ''heavy hydrogen'') rather than the common hydrogen-1 isotope (, also called ''protium'') that makes up most o ...

which is used to cool nuclear reactors. On the 24th of January, 2018, INVAP won the international tender for a nuclear research reactor and radioisotope production facility for medical uses in The Netherlands.

Other projects

;Civilian

* TDA - Design and implementation of the public terrestrial Argentine digital TV project *

Satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

s and space research payload for

* Systems for early detection of

forest fires A forest fire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a bushfire ( in Au ...

* Eleven (plus 11 more in order) 2D

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

s INKAN ( ) for the '' Administración Nacional de Aviación Civil'' (ANAC) the Argentine Civilian Agency in charge of air traffic control * Wind power * Dry-freeze plants, for preservation of fruits and vegetables. * Storage solutions for irradiated nuclear fuel from NPP and Research Reactors. * Radioisotope processing plants * Petrochemical plants. * CAREM nuclear reactors for nuclear power generating and to propel future Argentine Nuclear Powered Submarine (SNA). ;Military * Hangar doors for the

Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; ). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the Argentine Army, Army and the Argentine ...

destroyer * FLIR system for Argentine Navy P-3 Orion aircraft * Sonar systems for Argentine Navy destroyers, frigates and future Nuclear Powered submarine. * 3D radar prototype plus 6 in order for the

Argentine Air Force The Argentine Air Force (, or simply ''FAA'') is the air force of Argentina and one of three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic. In 2018, it had 13,837 military and 6,900 civilian personnel. FAA commander in chief is Brigadie ...

* Maritime patrol simulators * Naval electronics and battle management systems for Argentine Navy Meko 360 type destroyers, MEKO 140 type frigates, and TR-1700 submarines. * A

synthetic aperture radar Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar that is used to create two-dimensional images or 3D reconstruction, three-dimensional reconstructions of objects, such as landscapes. SAR uses the motion of the radar antenna over a target regi ...

to replace the Bendix RDR-1500B on the maritime patrol aircraft

Beechcraft Super King Air The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The Model 200 and Model 300 series were originally marketing, marketed as the "Super King Air" family; the "Super" designation was droppe ...

of the

Argentine Naval Aviation The Argentine Naval Aviation (', COAN) is the naval aviation branch of the Argentine Navy and one of its four operational commands. Argentina, along with Brazilian Navy, Brazil is one of two South American countries to have operated two aircraft c ...

Novo radar argentino em aeronave naval

Gallery

File:INVAP Bariloche.JPG File:SAOCOM_1B_pruebas_finales_en_CEATSA_01.jpg File:RA6cab.jpg

References

External links

* Official websit
Spanish

English
* La enciclopedia de ciencias y tecnologías en Argentina (Spanish
INVAP - ECyT-ar
Retrieved March 11, 2017 {{Satcomm Defense companies of Argentina Technology companies established in 1976 Argentine brands Bariloche 1976 establishments in Argentina