HETE-2 Spacecraft to Study Gamma Ray Bursts
Fully Operational On-Orbit

Successful Re-Use of Hardware from the HETE-1
Spacecraft Bus Developed by AeroAstro

Herndon, VA – October 09, 2000

AeroAstro, Inc., the world's premier small satellite technology company, today announced the successful launch and initialization of the HETE-2 spacecraft, made possible through AeroAstro-built spare hardware and designs from HETE-1. It will analyze mysterious gamma ray bursts (GRBs) that appear without warning from all corners of the universe.

HETE-2 was developed and constructed by essentially the same MIT team that completed HETE-1 with the assistance of key spacecraft design and development consultants. Only the power system and flight software were significantly changed. AeroAstro's HETE-1 spacecraft bus including power, communications, attitude control, and computer hardware as well as a number of flight spares from HETE-1 were used for the HETE-2 spacecraft.

Dr. Rick Fleeter, President and CEO of AeroAstro, said "AeroAstro congratulates Dr. George Ricker and the international team led by MIT on their accomplishment. I know that each AeroAstro employee involved in building hardware and designing HETE-1 feels great pride in seeing the project they worked on finally on-orbit and moving towards success. Our congratulations go out to each of them and the entire HETE-1 and HETE-2 team."

The HETE-2 spacecraft has a total mass of 273 pounds, with a planned mission lifetime of four years. It uses a momentum wheel and torque coils for attitude control, four deployable solar panels, a 250 kbit-per-second S-band radio, and four processors to run all aspects of the mission. The spacecraft will study GRBs with soft X-ray, medium X-Ray, and gamma ray instruments. Uniquely, it will also locate GRBs to a very high accuracy and transmit these positions for dissemination over the Internet, enabling follow-up studies by ground instruments in near-real time.

HETE-1

The HETE program began in 1989 when NASA approved the concept of a low-cost "University Class" explorer satellite to search for GRBs. AeroAstro worked with MIT to develop the concept and design for this first University Explorer (UNEX) mission, a precursor to today's highly successful UNEX program of university-led spacecraft in the Office of Space Science at NASA. In 1992, the HETE-1 program became fully funded, and AeroAstro was selected as the prime contractor.

The HETE-1 satellite was launched on November 4, 1996, along with the Argentine satellite SAC-B, on a Pegasus rocket from Wallops Island, VA. Despite a successful flight, a launch vehicle separation system malfunction caused the third state to fail to release the two satellites. Both satellites were unable to function as designed and, despite receiving telemetry on several ground passes, died due to lack of solar power in less than a day.

Due to the continuing need for GRB studies, NASA agreed to a second attempt using flight spare hardware from HETE-1. In July 1997, a second HETE satellite was funded by NASA and construction began in mid-1997 at MIT.

AeroAstro, Inc.

AeroAstro, a pioneer of micro- and nano-spacecraft applications in science, remote sensing and communications, led the trend towards high technology in miniature satellites - now the industry standard - with its highly successful ALEXIS satellite begun in 1988 and currently in its seventh year operating on-orbit.

AeroAstro is now paving the way to a new age of space communications with flexible tools that enable users to benefit from unprecedented access to space systems. AeroAstro has designed, constructed, tested and supported the launch of several small satellites. It has created numerous design programs and manufactures low-cost communications systems for ground and inter-satellite applications. NASA, the Air Force, and commercial and university customers have all employed AeroAstro throughout its 12-year history.