AeroAstro Successfully Tests the SENS Global Asset
Tracking System Over the Globalstar Satellite Constellation

San Jose , CA and Ashburn, VA – July 29, 2002

AeroAstro, one of the world's leading providers of small satellites and related technology products, and Globalstar, the world’s most popular handheld satellite phone service, have successfully demonstrated a new, very low cost simplex modem that can be used for remote sensing and tracking by satellite.

The demonstration, conducted in late June and early July over the Globalstar satellite network, comes less than four months after the two companies first announced plans to develop the new modem, based on AeroAstro’s Satellite Enabled Notification System (SENS) technology. With the excellent performance of the system in this initial test, the companies expect the basic modem unit to be commercially available in the fourth quarter of this year.

Mark Ludwig, executive vice president at AeroAstro, said, “This remarkably successful test marks a critical milestone for the delivery of global asset tracking SENS service worldwide, marking the transition to a fully functional, completely global, asset tracking and monitoring system in record time.”

The SENS Transmitter Unit is a pager-size simplex modem that can be configured and adapted for use in countless business applications that require sensing or tracking data to be sent from remote locations. By sending data over the Globalstar satellite network and through AeroAstro’s patented decoders at the Globalstar gateways, the modems enable reliable data transmissions in real-time from locations far beyond the reach of any ground-based network — a combination of features never before available in such a low-cost unit.

“We believe that the Globalstar/SENS technology will beat any other satellite system's technology for low-cost, real-time data communications,” said Paul Thomas, Globalstar vice president of data products and services. “Globalstar’s unique combination of low-earth-orbit satellites and ground-based switching allows us to deploy new technologies and functions easily and inexpensively. As a result, we anticipate that this new modem will revolutionize the economics of both fixed and mobile asset management in remote locations.”

AeroAstro, a pioneer of micro and nanospacecraft applications in science, remote sensing, and communications, is a leader in innovative small-satellite applications that open the space frontier to a larger and more varied constituency. NASA, the Air Force, and commercial and university customers have all employed AeroAstro throughout its 14-year history.

Globalstar is a provider of global mobile satellite telecommunications services, offering voice and data services from virtually anywhere in over 100 countries around the world. For more information, please visit the company website at www.globalstar.com.