Launch Vehicle Propellant Tank Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
- 55.1% of all 78 records in scope sit with just five companies, with the leader alone holding 22 records.
- Filing held flat, not falling, between the 2021 peak (6 filings) and 2024 (6 filings) — a 0% three-year change once publication lag is accounted for.
- Heat-exchanger and laminate insulation classes each cover under 10% of records, well behind the 39.7% carried by core spacecraft structure claims.
Filing growth compares 2021 (6 records) with 2024 (6) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 78 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
A concentrated field built on welding and structural claims
Launch vehicle propellant tank structures sit at the intersection of pressure-vessel engineering, cryogenic materials science and precision welding. The 78 records in scope, drawn from filings that combine tank and bulkhead structure language with process terms like friction stir welding and proof pressure testing, show a field where fabrication method claims are nearly as dense as structural design claims. B64G spacecraft structure claims lead at 39.7% of records, but welding (B23K) and sheet-metal working (B21D) each sit close behind at 15.4%.
Filing is concentrated at the top: five companies hold 55.1% of all records, and ten hold 78.2%. The United States dominates as a receiving office with 49 filings, well ahead of the EPO's 8 and WIPO's 7, which points to this remaining primarily a US-prosecuted technology area even as international filings grow slowly around it.
Filing trends and technology composition
The 78 records in scope span 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off, with publication lag meaning the most recent one to two years are still filling in. The technology composition below reflects that a single record can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than the record total.
Filing activity, 2017-2026
Filings held level between 2021 (the peak year, at 6) and 2024 (also 6) — 0% growth across that three-year span. Treat 2025 and 2026 figures as undercounts still catching up to actual filing activity given the ~18-month publication lag.
Where the claims sit
B64G (cosmonautics and spacecraft) carries 39.7% of the 78 records, well ahead of F02K (jet and reaction propulsion) at 20.5% and F17C (pressure vessels and gas storage) at 16.7%. B21D and B23K, the sheet-metal-working and welding classes, each sit at 15.4%, showing that fabrication method claims are nearly as dense as structural design claims.
Shares are the percentage of the 78 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Launch Vehicle Propellant Tank Structures with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about launch vehicle propellant tank structures and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
US10688592B1 — Friction stir welding of aluminum alloys
Directed to friction stir welding apparatuses, methods and systems for joining components made of an aluminum 2xxx alloy with components made of an aluminum 7xxx alloy. The 2xxx alloy may take the form of a filler insert — a sheet or strip — placed between two larger 7xxx alloy components, or as a larger component welded directly to a 7xxx component of comparable size. The resulting weldments show improved resistance to stress corrosion cracking without requiring a post-weld artificial aging step.Assigned to United Launch Alliance, L.L.C.; published 2020-06-23.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US9783324B2 | Vessel insulation assembly | 116 |
| 2 | US4834324A | Multiconfiguration reusable space transportation system | 87 |
| 3 | US6230957B1 | Method of using friction stir welding to repair weld defects and to help avoid weld defects in intersecting w… | 86 |
| 4 | US20040055349A1 | Methods of making integrally stiffened axial load carrying skin panels for primary aircraft structure and fue… | 83 |
| 5 | US7866532B1 | Friction stir welding apparatus, system and method | 65 |
| 6 | US6422514B1 | Common bulkhead cryogenic propellant tank | 55 |
| 7 | US20090188109A1 | Friction stir welded bladder fuel tank | 51 |
| 8 | US8141764B1 | Friction stir welding apparatus, system and method | 43 |
| 9 | US7093470B2 | Methods of making integrally stiffened axial load carrying skin panels for primary aircraft structure and fue… | 43 |
| 10 | US4557444A | Aerospace vehicle | 43 |
Citation counts are drawn from the corpus searched for this dataset and skew toward older filings; treat them as a measure of influence on later claim drafting, not of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the filing pattern signals
The dataset points to a field where fabrication method and structural design claims are almost equally dense, and where a small number of filers hold most of the recent activity.
Filing sits with a small group of established players
The top five assignees combined hold 55.1% of all 78 records in scope, and the top ten extend that to 78.2%. That leaves a long tail across the remaining ranked companies, many with a single filing.
Structure and welding claims run close together
Spacecraft structure claims (B64G) are the largest single class at 39.7% of records, but welding (B23K) and sheet-metal working (B21D) each sit at 15.4% — showing fabrication method is claimed almost as heavily as the structure itself.
Recent activity is concentrated in a newer entrant
While several long-established assignees show zero filings in the latest year in this dataset, one newer entrant recorded 4 filings in that period — a signal worth tracking even against a small base.
Insulation and welding patents anchor the citation graph
The most-cited record in the dataset, a vessel insulation assembly patent, has 116 citations; three of the five most-cited records concern welding or weld repair methods, underlining how foundational those techniques remain.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to launch vehicle propellant tank structures, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the activity is moving
The ranked field covers 27 companies across legacy aerospace primes, current launch providers, government research bodies and materials specialists. Activity in the most recent year skews toward a newer entrant rather than the historically dominant filers.
One filer holds more than a quarter of the field
The top-ranked assignee accounts for 22 of the 78 records in scope, roughly 28% of the entire dataset on its own, ahead of a group of mid-tier filers each holding single-digit counts.
A wide field of single- and low-count filers
Beyond the top ten, filing spreads thin across the remaining ranked companies, many holding just one or two records — typical of a field where specialised suppliers and government labs file narrowly around specific hardware.
A newer entrant is currently the most active filer
Several long-established assignees, including major aerospace primes and launch providers, show zero filings in the latest year in this dataset, while a newer entrant recorded 4 — worth watching even against the small base of a partial year.
Filing is heavily US-centred with a slow international tail
The United States receives the large majority of filings, with Europe (EPO), WIPO/PCT and a handful of national offices (India, Germany, Austria) making up the rest — consistent with a technology area still prosecuted mainly at the point of manufacture.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| QUANTUM SPACE LLC | 4 | — |
| The Boeing Company | 0 | — |
| Lockheed Martin Corporation | 0 | — |
| UNITED LAUNCH ALLIANCE LLC | 0 | — |
| ROCKET LAB USA INC | 0 | — |
| Blue Origin Manufacturing LLC | 0 | — |
| MT AEROSPACE | 0 | — |
| Powdermet Inc. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The figures above describe the shape of the field. Turning that into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision means going claim by claim against the specific hardware in question.
Run a claim-level clearance search
Class-level shares show where claims are dense, but only a claim chart against the specific tank structure, weld geometry or insulation layup will show what is actually blocked.
Start a clearance search in EurekaTrack the newer entrant's filing pattern
One newer filer accounts for all of the latest year's recorded activity in this dataset — worth monitoring for a pattern before the next filing wave publishes.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaScope a filing in the under-claimed branches
Heat-exchanger integration and laminate insulation bonding carry the lightest filing density in this dataset, leaving more room for a defensible, narrowly drafted claim.
Draft a claim scope in EurekaFrequently asked questions
Filing is concentrated: the leading assignee alone accounts for 22 of the 78 records in scope, and the top five combined hold 55.1% of all records. The remainder is a long tail of 27 ranked companies, many with only a handful of filings, spanning legacy aerospace primes, newer launch companies and materials suppliers. This concentration pattern means a freedom-to-operate check should prioritise the top few filers' portfolios before scanning the long tail.
Common bulkhead designs share a single dome structure between two propellant tanks to save mass and length, while isogrid designs use a machined or formed triangular rib pattern to stiffen a tank wall against axial buckling with less material than a solid skin. In this dataset, isogrid and stiffened-skin approaches show up densely under the sheet-metal-working class B21D (15.4% of records), while common bulkhead claims appear more often as a feature within broader spacecraft structure filings (B64G) rather than as a separately coded technology. Anyone comparing the two should look at the underlying structural claim language rather than the class code alone.
Yes. Welding and joining claims (B23K) appear in 15.4% of the 78 records in scope, and two of the five most-cited records in the dataset are friction stir welding patents, including one specifically on welding dissimilar aluminum alloy grades. High citation counts on older welding patents indicate the technique remains a reference point for newer filings rather than a closed area. New filings in this space still need to check against the foundational weld-repair and dissimilar-alloy claims before drafting.
The thinnest technology classes in this dataset are F28F (heat-exchanger details, 6.4% of records) and B32B (layered products and laminates, 9.0% of records), both well below the 39.7% carried by core spacecraft structure claims. These cover cryogenic boil-off management hardware and multi-layer insulation layups respectively. A filer with a specific, well-defined structure in either area has more room to establish a defensible position than in the denser welding or structural classes.
Filings held flat rather than declining: 2021, the peak year in this dataset, recorded 6 filings, and 2024, the most recent year that can be treated as complete, also recorded 6 – 0% growth across that span. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by roughly 18 months, so any apparent drop-off in the most recent years should not be read as a real slowdown. The flat trend from 2021 to 2024 is the more reliable read on current activity.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
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Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.