Revolutionary Microgravity Processing Capability is Goal of New Joint Venture; SPACEHAB and Guigne Technologies Perfecting "Containerless" Processing Method.VIENNA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 1998--SPACEHAB, Inc. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :SPAB SPAB Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (UK) SPAB School Pupil Activity Bus SPAB Supply Priorities and Allocations Board SPAB Security Policy Advisory Board SPAB Society for the Preservation of Adolescent Behavior ) and Guigne Technologies Limited (Guigne) of St. John's, Newfoundland, have agreed to form a joint venture to develop and market a revolutionary microgravity mi·cro·grav·i·ty n. 1. An environment in which there is very little net gravitational force, as of a free-falling object, an orbit, or interstellar space. 2. processing facility to be operated onboard the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. The Joint Venture is structured to give SPACEHAB and Guigne each 50 percent ownership in the development, fabrication, marketing and sales of commercial services using the Space-DRUMS(TM) Facility to all U.S., Canadian and international customers. Space-DRUMS(TM) (Dynamically Responding Ultrasonic Matrix System) is a small and highly sophisticated furnace that can melt solid materials, process them and retrieve the resulting new solid compound -- all with the materials suspended in weightlessness weightlessness, the absence of any observable effects of gravitation. This condition is experienced by an observer when he and his immediate surroundings are allowed to move freely in the local gravitational field. using sound waves and never touching a container. Known as "containerless processing," this method avoids contaminants and physical defects, enabling large samples to bepositioned and held stably in microgravity environments like the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. Developed under the sponsorship of the Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA or, in French, l'Agence spatiale canadienne, ASC) is the Canadian government space agency responsible for Canada's space program. It was established in March 1989 by the Canadian Space Agency Act and sanctioned in December 1990. (CSA (1) (Canadian Standards Association, Toronto, Ontario, www.csa.ca) A standards-defining organization founded in 1919. It is involved in many industries, including electronics, communications and information technology. ), this patented space laboratory facility could lead to the creation of some of the world's purest alloys, semiconductors, glass and ceramics to be used for new applications in everything from aircraft parts to computer chips and fiber-optic cable for telecommunications. Other examples of uses for Space-DRUMS(TM) include fluid physics research and protein crystal growth. David A. Rossi, President of SPACEHAB, Inc., hailed the agreement: "Guigne is a world leader in smart acoustic technologies. By partnering with SPACEHAB, Guigne is now moving into the spaceflight business as well," he said. "The Space-DRUMS(TM) Facility is another excellent complement to our research modules and is already planned to be a research facility on the International Space Station." "We believe that SPACEHAB is the perfect teammate for our Space-DRUMS(TM) product with their innovative, commercial approach to manned space and international marketing network," said Edward Sloot, Chief Executive Officer for Guigne. "SPACEHAB also provides access to spaceflight opportunities that might be difficult to come by otherwise," he added. Guigne Technologies and its sister engineering company Guigne International Limited (GIL GIL Global Interpreter Lock (to protect Python objects from being modified from multiple threads at once) GIL Gerenciador de Informações Locais (Brasil) ) provide acoustic design engineering services specializing in very high resolution sonar designs, high speed signal processing with fuzzy logic fuzzy logic, a multivalued (as opposed to binary) logic developed to deal with imprecise or vague data. Classical logic holds that everything can be expressed in binary terms: 0 or 1, black or white, yes or no; in terms of Boolean algebra, everything is in one set or architectures, containerless acoustic levitation engineering and material processing physics. These applications revolve around the company's unique and proprietary technology called DRUMS(TM) used elsewhere to study Atlantic fish stocks and macrofauna on the ocean floor, much the same way scientists use microscopes to study small-scale biological and ecological phenomena. SPACEHAB, Inc., with its ASTROTECH subsidiary, is the world's leading provider of commercial payload processing services for both astronaut-tended and unmanned payloads. SPACEHAB is the first company to commercially develop, own and operate habitable habitable adj. referring to a residence that is safe and can be occupied in reasonable comfort. Although standards vary by region, the premises should be closed in against the weather, provide running water, access to decent toilets and bathing facilities, heating, modules that provide space-based laboratory facilities and logistics resupply re·sup·ply tr.v. re·sup·plied, re·sup·ply·ing, re·sup·plies To provide with fresh supplies, as of weapons and ammunition. re aboard the U.S. Space Shuttles to support the people living and working in space. Space Shuttle mission STS-95, scheduled for October 1998, features SPACEHAB's Single Research Module as the primary payload.
CONTACT: SPACEHAB, Inc.
Anne Eisele, 703/821-3000, Ext. 201
Eisele@hqspacehab.com
or
Guigne Technologies Limited
Suzanne Rowsell, 709/895-3819
srowsell@guigne.nf.ca
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