"This memo of understanding marks the completion of the infrastructure for OSSS, in that it assures us of specific launch capabilities for our small satellite payloads, which will enable us to provide cost-efficient small satellite services for universities and other commercial clients that might otherwise find costs prohibitive," said Richards.

Under this memorandum of understanding, ISC Kosmotras will provide relatively inexpensive launch opportunities using the Dnepr Launch Vehicle, supported by the government bodies of Russia and the Ukraine.

OSSS will provide management and integration of small satellites into a single payload module utilizing the OSSS multi-payload adapted. Thiokol will provide organizational and legal support for the joint program as a marketing agent of ISC Kosmotras.

The first launch is scheduled for March 2001, with payloads that include a satellite to demonstrate the low-cost space technologies developed by OSSS. The agreement calls for ISC Kosmotras to allocate one Dnepr launch per year to OSSS from 2001 through 2007.

OSSS is a four-year old company that has commercialized the technology under development for 15 years at the Center for Aerospace Technology (CAST) at Weber State University. OSSS' mission is to provide its customers with low cost, high-quality small satellites for more effective access to space.

OSSS and CAST have successfully designed, engineered and manufactured eight low earth orbit (LEO) satellites in the 100 to 500 pound class. OSSS' proprietary technology provides attitude control that is more precise and less complex to operate than any other small satellite system on the market. Additional patents are pending that will allow this technology to be utilized in other control applications.

Thiokol provides Reusable Solid Rocket Motors (RSRMs) for NASA's Space Shuttle program and is a major supplier of propulsion systems launch vehicles used in other government and commercial flights.

The company is the worldwide leader in the reclamation and reuse of rocket motor fuels, as evidenced by its role in demilitarization programs in Russia and the Ukraine.

ISC Kosmotras was established in 1997 by the national space agencies of Russia and the Ukraine for development and commercial operation of the Dnepr Space Launch System.

Located on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, this launch system is based on SS-18 ICBM technology. The ISC Kosmotras mission is able to put into practice a conversion of the large number of SS-18s from military to peacetime use. This mission was committed to ISC Kosmotras by the governments of Russia and Ukraine.

OSSS demonstrated its satellite design and manufacturing capability in January of this year with the successful launch of a multi-use group of satellites aboard a decommissioned U.S. Minuteman Missle.

The addition of launch capability via this agreement greatly enhances OSSS' opportunities to provide its customers with low-cost access to space.

OSSS

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China Sets Up Realtime Weather Reporting For Spaceflight Tracking Fleet
Beijing - August 21, 2000 -
A new domestically developed realtime meteorological information system for the fleet of space launch tracking ships recently received State certification, Xinhua News Agency reported last Wednesday (August 16).