Bags made by local companies headed to space station | Local | Journal Gazette – Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Two Allen County companies have produced bags protecting batterieson their way to the InternationalSpace Station.

Brimstone Fire Protection supplied 20 fire containment bags for lithium-ion batteries aboard an unpiloted cargo ship launched Tuesday by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The spacecraft isscheduled to reach the space station on Saturday.

Lee Hershberger, owner of Brimstone Fire Protection, said the batteries are mainly for laptopcomputers used on the space station.

Hershberger designs the bags, which he said aremanufacturedby Excellon Technologies in Fort Wayne. They are composed of "my secret recipe of materials," he said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

Brimstone said in a news release thatit collaborated withNASA contractor Leidos, a science and technology company based in Reston, Virginia,to design and test fire containment bagsthat would improve the safety and storage of batteries while in orbit. Lithium-ion batteries used in consumer electronicscan igniteor explode if they overheat or are damaged.

Daniel Barineau, senior project manager at Leidos, said in the news release that Brimstone "modified their off-the-shelf designs to meet our needs and have shown a willingness to go above and beyond to make our efforts a success under a compressed schedule." Barineau also said that inthe 30 yearshe has worked on projects for the space station and the space shuttle, "I have never come across a company that was as responsive, customer focused, and easy to work with as Brimstone."

Hershberger started Brimstone, which has a Spencerville address, in 2016. It has produced fire containment products fortheNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, all branches of the U.S. military, the U.S. Forestry Service, airlines, corporate jet fleets and such companies as General Electric,General Dynamics,Hewlett Packardand Facebook,according to the company's website.

bfrancisco@jg.net

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Bags made by local companies headed to space station | Local | Journal Gazette - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette