May 7, 1998, Houston, TX — Today, SPACEHAB, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPAB) and the University of Houston's Space Vacuum Epitaxy Center (SVEC) signed an agreement for SPACEHAB to acquire the rights to the university’s Wake Shield Facility and related science research technology.

The agreement, valued at $1 million plus future royalties, gives SPACEHAB sole and unrestricted rights to manage and market the Wake Shield Facility space laboratory to commercial and government customers.

The Wake Shield Facility is a free-flying spacecraft deployed from the space shuttle that creates an ultra-vacuum for space-based epitaxial growth of thin films for research and development. The Wake Shield Facility was developed by SVEC to advance its research into materials processing techniques using the ultra-vacuum of space, with a specific focus on advanced semiconductor thin film materials development for microelectronics applications. An ultra-vacuum, such as that created in the “wake” of the Wake Shield Facility, allows for the production of thin film crystalline materials with lower contamination levels than those produced on Earth, ultimately enhancing the performance of products made from these thin film materials.

David A. Rossi, SPACEHAB, Inc. President, hailed the agreement with the University of Houston as mutually beneficial to both organizations. “The flight-proven Wake Shield Facility significantly expands SPACEHAB’s inventory of marketable space assets, while permitting the university to retain a leading role in the science and technology development of thin film growth,” he said.
"Our mission is to commercialize the technology of thin film manufacturing in the vacuum of outer space," said Alex Ignatiev, SVEC Director. "This agreement moves this unique technology to the commercial sector for the long term benefit of the nation's economy."

In addition to the epitaxial thin film growth, SPACEHAB plans to market the Wake Shield Facility to scientists and researchers with experiments suited to robotic free-flying devices.

“The Wake Shield Facility is an excellent complement to our research modules, which have been embraced by the global scientific community,” Rossi noted. “Wake Shield could be offered as an additional research facility for the International Space Station,” he added.

Space Vacuum Epitaxy Center is a research center at the University of Houston and a NASA Commercial Space Center. Founded in 1986, SVEC’s purpose is to unite industry, academia, and government in the campaign for space utilization through access to the near-perfect vacuum of space, coupled with intensive laboratory-based research and development in advanced thin film semiconductor and oxide materials and devices.

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 modules that provide space-based laboratory facilities and logistics resupply aboard the U.S. Space Shuttles to support the people living and working in space. Space shuttle mission STS-95, set for this October, features SPACEHAB’s Single Research Module as primary payload.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: