AeroAstro CEO Touts Latest Book as Rocket Science Made Easy

The Logic of Microspace Provides Overview
of Commercial Space and Small Satellites

Herndon, VA – May 5, 2000

AeroAstro, Inc., the world's premier microsatellite technology company and builder of the first Personal Satellite, today announced the availability of The Logic of Microspace, a three-part book by Dr. Rick Fleeter covering Microspacecraft, Missions and Management Reliability, and a novella about possible futures for the industry and society at large.

With a light, tongue-in-cheek touch, Dr. Fleeter enjoyably introduces the basics of rocket science including propulsion, orbit mechanics, magnetic attractions, radio, thermal dynamics, stability and control, memory systems, deployable mechanisms, batteries and clean rooms.

Dr. Fleeter noted, "I wrote The Logic of Microspacecraft for customers, employees and executives new to the aerospace field, but I hope any member of the general public with an interest in the possibilities for the 21st century will pick it up after reading a few pages in a bookstore. I made it entertaining and fun to read."

The reader is introduced to interesting tidbits such as:

• Rockets put less than one percent of their mass in orbit
• To achieve orbit, a rocket must obtain an altitude of 100 miles and a speed of 16,000 mph, but only ten percent of rocket effort is needed to obtain the altitude with 90 percent needed to reach the speed
• The Earth's magnetic field has a south pole in Canada and a north pole near Antartica (the opposite of geographic poles)
• The human voice fluctuates up to 8,000 Hz compared to television and radio frequencies from 80 MHz to 160 MHz
• Temperature changes occur due to conduction, convection and radiation
• SEUs (single event upsets) occur in memory systems when a stored 1 becomes a 0 due to radiation or other elements of the harsh space environment
• Deployable mechanisms in spacecraft may be held in place by hot wax actuators which are melted to allow deployment.

The second part of Dr. Fleeter's book covers missions and management reliability. It notes the fallacy of trying to imitate science fiction despite the fact that robots may actually be better explorers, colonists and researchers. Other timely topics include optimization of political, entertainment, reliability, education and cost factors in current space missions. The book evaluates reasons for satellite failure and the design-review process.

The third part of The Logic of Microspace is a small novella set in one possible future society and includes the impact of space research and microsatellites.

Dr. Fleeter is the CEO of AeroAstro, a pioneer of micro- and nano-spacecraft applications in science, remote sensing, and communications. A leader in innovative small satellite applications that open the space frontier, AeroAstro led the trend towards "smaller, better, cheaper, faster" spacecraft that is now NASA's mantra. AeroAstro manufactured the highly successful ALEXIS satellite begun in 1988 and currently in its seventh year operating on-orbit.

AeroAstro is now leading the way to a new age of commercial space with flexible tools that enable new users to benefit from unprecedented access to space technology. AeroAstro has designed, constructed, tested and supported the launch of several small satellites. It completed numerous spacecraft systems programs and manufactures low-cost small rocket engines, nano-satellites and spacecraft components. NASA, the Air Force, and commercial and university customers have all employed AeroAstro throughout its 11-year history.