Press Releases

2008 INVENTION AWARD WINNER
Paragon Dive System receives Popular Science Magazine 2008 Invention Award

TUCSON, Arizona, May 10 - Popular Science Magazine (June 2008) has awarded one of its 2008 Invention Awards to Paragon Space Development Corporation for development of the Paragon Dive System™.

Our nation’s commercial and military divers are often called upon to dive in the most polluted and hazardous environments imaginable. They conduct recovery operations resulting from terrorist attacks such as the one on the USS Cole. They dive on aircraft wrecks like Swissair Flight 111 and TWA Flight 800. There is a continuing threat of chemical warfare agent contamination, biological warfare agents, and disease from pollution in our oceans and waterways.

Current diving equipment is not designed to operate in contaminated conditions, much less protect the diver from exposure to hazardous chemicals in the water. “Their diving equipment can deteriorate to the point of contamination breakthrough and failure in a matter of minutes, compromising the equipment on which the diver’s life depends.” said Taber MacCallum, CEO of Paragon Space Development Corporation of Tucson, Arizona.

A few years ago the U.S. Navy asked small businesses to propose innovative solutions to the problem, and asked them to use as much of the existing Navy hardware as possible. Paragon proposed a system that would provide “space suit-like” encapsulation of the diver. Paragon redesigned and retrofitted existing diving equipment with a send-and-return air umbilical, new materials, and many other upgrades. “As far as I am aware, no other system addresses the dump valve in this way. The suit fully encapsulates the diver.” says Lt. James Pearson, the manager of the Navy’s contaminated-water diving program. The improved system prevents the diver from coming into contact with contaminated water.  In 2007, the Navy completed initial prototype testing of the system, and further testing of military production units are planned for 2008. Paragon is now beginning manufacture of the Paragon Dive System™ to meet the needs of the commercial Hazmat diving market.

To view the magazine article click: http://www.popsci.com/invention

For more information on the Paragon Dive System click:  http://www.paragonsdc.com/Paragon_Dive_System.php

Paragon Space Development Corporation, founded in 1993, is a full-service aerospace engineering and technology development firm. Paragon is a major supplier of environmental control and life support system and sub-system design for the aerospace industry with expertise in thermal control for orbiting and re-entering spacecraft and hyper-velocity aircraft. For more information, see:  www.paragonsdc.com

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For more information, press only:
Leslie Melton, Paragon SDC
520-903-1000 ext 41
lmelton@paragonsdc.com