CB&I completes first fill of NASA liquid hydrogen demonstration tank

By Atlas Watchline Staff · Corporate · August 10, 2026

CB&I said it has completed the first fill of a non-vacuum-insulated liquid hydrogen demonstration tank at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

CB&I said Aug. 10 that it completed the first fill of a liquid hydrogen demonstration tank at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center Hydrogen Test Facility in Huntsville, Alabama.

The company said the tank uses non-vacuum insulation technology and is part of a program to test whether liquid hydrogen storage can be made more affordable and scalable in a real operating setting.

CB&I said the demonstration tank has a volume of 20 cubic meters and was designed and built by the company before being integrated into NASA’s existing liquid hydrogen infrastructure. The company said the tank triples the Hydrogen Test Facility’s total liquid hydrogen storage capacity and may be refilled as often as once per day, allowing repeated thermal-cycle testing and longer-duration liquid hydrogen tests.

The company said the program was announced in 2025 and brings together CB&I, Shell, NASA, GenH2 and the University of Houston. CB&I said NASA, CB&I and Shell will evaluate the performance of the non-vacuum insulation system over the coming months.

CB&I said liquid hydrogen is used in space and energy applications and that the project is intended to help validate a cost-effective approach to large-scale storage and speed commercial deployment.

CB&I quoted its vice president of engineering, Yogesh Meher, as saying the first fill is an important step toward validating a more cost-effective approach to large-scale liquid hydrogen storage. Meher also said the demonstration at NASA’s Hydrogen Test Facility is helping accelerate the path to commercial deployment.

CB&I said it built the first LH2 storage sphere in 1960 for NASA’s Gemini and Apollo programs, has constructed more than 130 LH2 storage spheres worldwide and completed the world’s largest LH2 storage sphere in 2022 for NASA’s Artemis program.

NASA, CB&I and Shell are expected to continue evaluating the tank over the coming months as the repeated fill and test cycle continues.

Sources

• PR Newswire release: CB&I completes first fill of pioneering non-vacuum LH2 storage demonstration tank

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