Sierra Space teams with Honda and Tec-Masters for ISS clean energy test

Sierra Space teams with Honda and Tec-Masters for ISS clean energy test
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 10, 2025

Sierra Space has announced a strategic partnership with Honda and Tec-Masters to conduct in-orbit testing of Honda's advanced water electrolysis system aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The initiative, enabled by Sierra Space's Dream Chaser spaceplane, represents a major milestone in developing sustainable energy technologies for lunar habitats and Earth-based applications.

The focus of the collaboration is Honda's high-differential pressure water electrolysis system, a component of a regenerative fuel cell platform designed to produce oxygen, hydrogen, and electricity in a closed-loop cycle. Drawing on its long-standing expertise in hydrogen fuel cells, Honda aims to demonstrate the technology's performance in microgravity, a crucial step toward future deployment on the lunar surface.

Sierra Space will manage the mission in coordination with NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS). The Dream Chaser will deliver the experimental hardware to the ISS, while Tec-Masters will oversee payload integration and certification. With years of experience supporting ISS missions, Tec-Masters adds critical technical depth to the project.

"The future of innovation in space is not only commercialization, but teaming arrangements between like-minded companies to advance technology we never thought imaginable in previous decades," said Ken Shields, Sr. Director of Business Development at Sierra Space. "As we prepare for our first Dream Chaser mission to the International Space Station, this new collaboration with Honda and Tec-Masters is an additional proof point to the varied applications of our spaceplane to provide commercial transport to the space station and beyond."

The Dream Chaser, uniquely designed for commercial orbital missions, offers over six tons of cargo capacity and gentle atmospheric reentry, ensuring sensitive materials experience less than 1.5g upon return. These capabilities make it ideal for transporting and retrieving delicate scientific payloads like Honda's energy system.

Sierra Space's first operational Dream Chaser vehicle, named Tenacity, is now in the final stages of testing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Its debut flight, under NASA's Commercial Resupply Service 2 (CRS-2) program, will carry this and other critical cargo to the ISS.