Macomb Township company helps NASA with mission to Mars
Article From WDIV ClickOnDetroit
Originally Posted: March 29, 2016
MACOMB TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Every day we get closer to a new reality, a reality that has man stepping foot on Mars. Science fiction has painted a wide variety of scenes and expectations, but the human race will eventually know what it’s really like to be on the “Red Planet.”
That day is still many years away, but a company in southeast Michigan is working to make it a reality.
In Macomb Township, a company called Futuramic is helping the space program get ready for launch. But again, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Futuramic started as an automotive company in 1955, but when the car companies began looking for alternative locations for labor and manufacturing, Futuramic switched gears to survive.
“It was a perfect fit. Really, to get into the aerospace because it’s machining and assembly, so it is right up our alley,” John Couch said.
With that, Futuramic took one giant leap for tool- and machine-kind. This transition from the automotive world to aerospace didn’t mean a complete overhaul in personnel. In fact, many of the people who helped Detroit drive the world also help NASA reach higher and farther.
Matt Ososky started at Futuramic as a tool maker more than 30 years ago. Ososky has transformed himself into a tool designer.
“I never thought I’d work on airplanes that fly 40,000 feet and rockets that go to the moon. It’s just a really rewarding experience,” Ososky said.
Space Launch System is a NASA program that intends to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and then to Mars in the 2030s.
“In 2021 or 22 it will take humans further than they’ve ever gone before,” Couch said. “Eventually the goal is for that rocket to go to Mars.”
With dreams, projects and goals that big, Futuramic had to expand. In early 2014 a second location was added, in Detroit. The reason to go bigger was pretty obvious.
“The size, the heights, we’re doing some that are 60 feet tall, so everything is larger, larger scale,” Couch said.
Futuramic is constantly looking for homegrown talent. From high school graduates, community college students and college grads, it is always looking to grow its family with individuals excited about space.
Couch and his colleagues want to promote the space program, which is creating manufacturing jobs for the United States and more specifically for the workers in Michigan.
Copyright 2016 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit – All rights reserved.