AeroAstro/Boston University TERRIERS Satellite Successfully Operating On-Orbit.

HERNDON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 18, 1999--

AeroAstro, Inc., a premier micro-satellite technology and services company, today announced the successful launch of the TERRIERS satellite onboard a NASA-procured Pegasus rocket this morning at 1:10 a.m. EDT from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

A low-cost ($12.3 million program cost, including launch), fast-paced program, TERRIERS is part of the Student Explorer Demonstration Initiative (STEDI), sponsored by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA).

TERRIERS (Tomographic Experiment using Radiative Recombinative Ionospheric Extreme ultraviolet and Radio Sources), a 123 kg (272 lbs.) micro-satellite with a bus mass of 75 kg (165 lbs.) built by AeroAstro in conjunction with Boston University's Center for Space Physics, is currently in the process of on-orbit initialization as it awaits its second pass tonight over Boston. Its atmospheric science mission is to demonstrate global ionospheric tomography and utilize the technique to study ionospheric/thermospheric processes. The satellite also accommodates a scientific payload developed by students at Cleveland Heights High School and a radio propagation experiment from the Naval Research Lab.

"AeroAstro's highly cost-effective micro-satellite technology enabled a private university, on a very limited budget, to build a successful, advanced spacecraft which will achieve ambitious scientific goals," noted Dr. Rick Fleeter, AeroAstro's President and CEO. "As a precursor to NASA's University Explorer program and a complex spacecraft performing an important scientific mission, TERRIERS is an excellent example of the tremendous benefits of small, low cost space missions."

AeroAstro designed and built the spacecraft bus, ground station, and supported payload integration and testing for the TERRIERS micro-satellite. A Boston University team provided the scientific payload and worked closely with AeroAstro on various elements of the spacecraft. The spacecraft is highly autonomous and will be operated by Boston University students under the direction of Dr. Dan Cotton, TERRIERS Principal Investigator.

AeroAstro, a pioneer of micro-spacecraft applications in science, remote sensing, and communications, is a leader in innovative small satellite applications. It led the trend towards "smaller, better, cheaper, faster" spacecraft - that is now NASA's mantra - with its highly successful ALEXIS satellite begun in 1988 and currently in its seventh year of successful, reliable operations. NASA, the Air Force, commercial and university customers have all employed AeroAstro in its 11-year history.