AeroAstro Awarded Contract for Production
of X-Band Transponders for NASA’s ST5 Spacecraft

Ashburn, VA – May 25, 2004

AeroAstro, Inc., a leading provider of small satellites and related technology products, today announced the award of a contract to supply the primary communications systems for the NASA Space Technology 5 (ST5) mission. Through this contract, AeroAstro will fabricate two flight X-Band Transponders for the ST5 Nanosatellite Constellation Trailblazer mission, part of NASA’s New Millennium Program (NMP).

AeroAstro began development of the lightweight, compact X-Band Transponder under funding through the NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The technology was baselined as the Earth-space communications system for the Nanosatellite Constellation Trailblazer mission when this mission was selected for ST5 in 2000.

NASA ST5 Program Manager, Dr. Douglas D. McLennan, said, “We are very excited about the miniature digital transponder that is being developed by AeroAstro for the ST5 Project and are looking forward to integrating it into the first spacecraft this spring.”

AeroAstro recently completed fabrication and testing of the first flight unit under a prior contract. This unit has successfully completed testing, ahead of schedule, for operability with the Deep Space Network (DSN), the ground network to be used for the ST5 mission. The new contract encompasses fabrication and delivery of two additional flight units. The first flight unit was originally intended to be a non-flight qualification model (designated “protoflight” – identical in form and function to the flight units), however its successful development led to the decision to fly it. This unit already completed, plus the two to be fabricated under the follow-on contract, will provide transponders for each of the ST5 mission’s three nanosatellites. The ST5 satellites are currently planned for launch in December 2005.

AeroAstro’s X-Band Transponder offers a small, inexpensive, and low-power communication solution for micro and nanospacecraft, as well as larger space missions. The transponder weighs only 900 grams in an enclosure approximately 3" x 3" x 6". This full duplex coherent transponder can transmit at a date rate of up to 5 Mbps and receive at a rate of up to 50 kbps, with a power consumption of only 18W for transmit and 4W for receive.

Dr. Rick Fleeter, AeroAstro’s CEO, said, “Since our inception, AeroAstro has worked to make space more accessible through lowering price, speeding delivery time, and increasing the performance of low-cost spacecraft. Radio and communications systems are critical to every mission, and we have built them for DoD, NASA, commercial and non-US spacecraft programs since 1989. AeroAstro continues to increase performance at moderate cost with the development of the X-Band Transponder, a product that leapfrogs capabilities of currently available spacecraft radios. AeroAstro’s compact, lightweight transponder is ideal for use in small spacecraft constrained by budget, mass, volume, and power. Its quality, reliability, performance and DSN compatibility make it just as compelling for larger space missions.”

Under this contract, AeroAstro will deliver the first of two additional flight transponders to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in June 2004, with the second flight unit following soon thereafter in early July. The contract value for producing the two additional MIL-SPEC flight units is approximately $650,000.

The NMP ST5 mission consists of three miniaturized satellites that are similar in size to a desktop computer, weighing only 47 pounds each. These smaller satellites are much easier to manufacture and cheaper to launch than their larger counterparts, reducing total mission cost. Flying clusters of multiple smaller satellites rather than a single larger satellite reduces the risk of a mission failure if one system or instrument fails. The goal of the ST5 mission is to flight test its miniaturized satellites and the suite of innovative technologies it incorporates, within the Earth’s magnetosphere, providing data for future development of spacecraft planned to study this region.

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.