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COLORADO SPRINGS—Sierra Space plans to fly a Honda-developed experimental fuel cell system to the International Space Station (ISS) for testing in microgravity under a new partnership.
The teaming, which includes Houston-based payload integration specialist Tec-Masters, will see Honda’s high-differential pressure water electrolysis system delivered to the ISS aboard Sierra’s Dream Chaser spaceplane, which is in the final stages of preparation for its debut mission later this year under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Service 2 (CRS-2) contract.
Sierra is the first payload partner for Honda, which last year established a Space Development Division at its American Honda arm to promote technology development in the U.S. and enhance collaboration with its space industry. The teaming with Sierra is under Honda’s R&D company, which set up a Space Strategy Office in 2023 to develop space technologies and support applications for the Space Development Division.
Honda hopes tests of the renewable fuel cell’s water electrolysis system in the ISS’ microgravity environment will pave the way for advanced energy storage systems capable of supporting human life on the lunar surface. The system is designed to use solar power during the Lunar Day to generate electricity which, in turn, will power the electrolysis system to produce hydrogen and oxygen from water.
During the Lunar Night, some of the oxygen will be used for life support while the remainder will be fed into the fuel cell—along with the hydrogen produced during the Lunar Day—to generate electricity. Water, which will be produced as a byproduct of the process, will be recycled back into the electrolysis system to create a closed-loop energy cycle.
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