Man’s Future In Space Gets A Jolt Of Power

Sumitomo Corporation of America’s Aerospace and Defense Unit, a part of the Machinery, Power and IT Business Group, recently celebrated a milestone during the recent Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). A longstanding SCOA joint venture helped provide not only the spacesuits for the astronauts, as it has for 15 years, but solar panels were installed to finish the station’s solar capability incorporating a new business enterprise for SCOA. This landmark endeavor’s completion paves the way for better power accessibility in space, on the moon and someday on the planet Mars.

Established in 1994, Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International is a joint venture and strategic alliance between Sumitomo Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation of America, and United Technologies, the owner of aircraft and aerospace manufacturer Hamilton Sundstrand.  HSSSI supplies the air and water systems that keep astronauts living and breathing in the Space Shuttle, and one of the centerpieces of HSSSI’s contribution to the ISS is the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) or spacesuit, for the manned space program. The EMU provides enough expendables for a seven-hour space walk, and has allowed astronauts to build the ISS’s massive structure while in the vacuum of space.

With HS Rocketdyne, a company specializing in emerging solar power technology, recently becoming a part of HSSSI, the joint venture can now work toward supplying a necessary factor in future endeavors in space: electric power. During the 14-day Space Shuttle mission in March of 2009, astronauts installed the final set of solar array wings and truss elements needed to complete the ISS's electricity generating system. The entire set of arrays, part of a larger electrical distribution system designed and built by HS Rocketdyne, can generate the electricity equal to the amount necessary to power 30 average-sized homes.

“HSSSI had the capabilities to provide water and air in a space environment,” said Hiroshi Ogawa, Director of Aerospace and Defense Unit, “and this new business adds another human-required item, which is power.”

Originally, HSSSI was envisioned as a strategic relationship, a way for Sumitomo to be on the cutting edge of aerospace technology while allowing Hamilton Sundstrand an entry into the Japanese market. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Hamilton Sundstrand, Sumitomo Corporation and SCOA began to do more business in aerospace products. Sumitomo Corporation and SCOA helped Hamilton Sundstrand market and sell its products and technologies to Japanese industrial companies like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) and IHI Aerospace during that period.

Soon, the Aerospace Group at Sumitomo Corporation and SCOA felt that a closer relationship with Hamilton Sundstrand was warranted. So in 1994, United Technologies, Sumitomo Corporation and SCOA formed HSSSI as a company within Hamilton Sundstrand. At present, Sumitomo Corporation and SCOA is 20% shareholder of HSSSI. Since it began, HSSSI has seen consistent growth and high sales volume. The recent addition of HS Rocketdyne means that SCOA and SC now share that business as well.

Mr. Ogawa said that NASA’s recent announcements concerning the U.S. space program’s intentions have been encouraging.

“HSSSI's strategy is to follow what the U.S. is foreseeing and to be proactive,” Mr. Ogawa said. “The U.S. government’s intention is to go back to the moon and to go to Mars; these projects require water, air and power. That's why HSSSI added the HS Rocketdyne business to HSSSI – to provide that power.”

HSSSI also provides the spacesuit to Japanese Weightless Environment Test System (WETS) where astronauts do training before their missions. HSSSI has also been working closely with Japanese companies on the Japanese Experimental Module (JEM) for the ISS, named Kibo. Measuring about 25 feet in length, it contains 5 laboratories, an attached exposed exterior platform for experiments as well as logistics transport vehicles.  HSSSI has also teamed up with Oceaneering International for the completion of the next generation of the spacesuit.

With joint ventures such as HSSSI, Sumitomo Corporation of America carries on its commitment to expansion of opportunities, on this planet and beyond. While the future of humans in space continues to fascinate the public, SCOA can look to the night skies, and truly see the future among the stars.

Website Design and Content Management by 1250 Media.