AeroAstro Awarded SBIR Contract
for Development of Manufacturing Processes
for Low-Cost Production of Many Small Satellites

Ashburn, VA – February 20, 2004

AeroAstro, Inc., a leading provider of small satellites and related technology products, today announced the award of a contract to develop processes for low-cost production of many micro and nanosatellites. Under this contract, which is funded through NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, AeroAstro will develop a set of capabilities that, when applied together, will provide a substantial reduction in the overall time and cost it takes to manufacture multiple small satellites. These developments are critical for the use of small satellites in clusters and constellations.

While their components have become smaller, more capable and more reliable, the process of building micro and nanosatellites uses the same traditional space manufacturing methods developed for the largest space vehicles. So, while the size of satellites has steadily decreased, the manufacturing time and other metrics, such as cost per kilogram, have not experienced similar reductions.

AeroAstro’s “many-manufacturing” methods selectively apply mass-production techniques typical of modern digital devices to the lower quantities and very different applications and environments that characterize the small satellite missions envisioned for the next twenty years. AeroAstro’s many-manufacturing approach includes new techniques and processes in the construction of structures, electronics and harnessing as well as testing and qualification. The Phase I SBIR effort is sponsored by the NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Dr. Rick Fleeter, AeroAstro’s CEO, said, “With much of the industry focused on ways to implement individual missions under constrained budgets, AeroAstro’s many-manufacturing approach is aimed at changing the way spacecraft are built to enable missions that might otherwise not be feasible. This approach will be particularly beneficial for constellation missions, which we believe will emerge as a key application of small, low-cost spacecraft technology.”

AeroAstro, Inc. is a leader in innovative micro and nanospacecraft applications – including science, remote sensing, and communications – that open the space frontier to a larger and more varied customer base. AeroAstro manufactures low-cost satellite systems and components, used in its own spacecraft and for spacecraft development in the US and abroad. NASA, the US Air Force, commercial and academic customers have all relied on AeroAstro spacecraft and components over our 15-year history.