News Briefs - General:

AstroVision Australia, ac3 Team For Satellite Space Imaging

Managing Director of AstroVision Australia Michael Hewins announced the signing of a teaming agreement between AstroVision Australia Limited ("AstroVision") and the Australian Centre for Advanced Computing and Communications (ac3) to work together in a business development capacity to establish a series of services that are based on remote sensing information from AstroVision's planned geostationary satellite.

AstroVision is a public unlisted company incorporated in 2003 and based in Sydney. It has an exclusive license for the Asia-Pacific region for space imaging technology that will deliver information to governments, businesses, and private users in the region. The company will establish the first live, continuous, high-resolution and true-colour motion imagery and data of the Earth from a geostationary imaging satellite. The data can be used to monitor weather and natural disasters, reduce bushfire and hail damage, improve coastal surveillance, navigational hazards for maritime and aviation industries, and improve electrical energy forecasting and delivery efficiency. It will be used to create a safer environment and cost savings to government, business and the private sector.

Michael Hewins commented, "AstroVision Australia is very excited about the prospects for the company now that the teaming agreement with ac3 has been signed. Their support for AstroVision endorses the strength of our technology and our ability to manage a key component of the AstroVision system - the supercomputing complex and data storage facility. He continues: "Their interest and involvement in our project demonstrates the scale of computing power we intend to bring to Australia, and confidence that such a system can be developed and implemented here. "

The parties, through this agreement, have formed a relationship to secure projects involving high quality technical and information systems support services based on the capabilities of the parties. The parties have agreed to target certain fields of work, including selected tenders and that when successful, the parties will mutually support each other to deliver the standard of services required by customers.

Capabilities of ac3

Ac3 bring to the team a strong on-the-ground technology delivery with the provision of managed co-location services on 24x7x365 basis; experience in designing, configuring, and managing supercomputers and large databases; experience in designing and managing secure networks and environments and extensive contacts in NSW-based Universities and in the NSW Government.

Capabilities of AstroVision Australia

AstroVision Australia has experience in designing and configuring supercomputers and large databases; designing secure networks and environments; designing and implementing satellites, sensors, ground stations and analysis systems for remote sensing; analyses and developing related software for high end numerical analyses, especially those necessary to fully implement a remote sensing system; and definition of customer requirements needed to fully implement a remote sensing system.

AstroVision Technology

AstroVision's system architecture consists of:

• A geostationary imaging satellite orbiting at 36,000km above the equator. The orbit speed matches the speed of the Earth's rotation so the satellite is able to continuously image the same areas. The satellite carries seven sensors that collect land, ocean and atmospheric imagery, and,
• A ground system that controls the satellite and receives, processes and archives the imagery. This includes electronic cataloguing and distribution capabilities.

The AstroVision system is based on mature space heritage hardware and technology, one of the keys to the low cost, high reliability of the system. The sensors are derivatives of those developed and flown initially for interplanetary missions and planetary observation by NASA, which places a high premium on sensors being lightweight, with high reliability and low power requirements. This makes for smaller payloads, with smaller satellites to carry them, and results in significantly lower costs than traditional satellite projects.

The positioning of the satellite in geostationary orbit will be at or near 130o East Longitude and will provide 24 hour continuous coverage of the region from India to mid Pacific (west of Hawaii). The planned launch date for the satellite is in 2007 and the nominal life of the satellite is at least 9 years. The contract for the satellite bus has already been put to tender, and Ball Aerospace (Colorado, USA) was selected by AVII as the favoured entity for satellite construction and sensor integration. Ball has an established history in satellite construction with particular experience with imagery systems.

Three US patents (with numerous others in process) have been granted and issued to protect the system designed by AstroVision.

HORIZON GLOBAL MOVES INTO IMAGING SATELLITES

AstroVision Australia Take up Boosts Rollout of Lucrative Earth Imaging Business in Asia Pacific

Prospects for an Australian-owned geostationary imagery satellite have moved ahead with an agreement by Horizon Global Ltd to acquire 51 per cent of AstroVision Australia Ltd, a company which holds the Asia-Pacific rights for a set of advanced space cameras and sensors.

Incorporated in 2003, AstroVision Australia is a public unlisted company based in Sydney. Over the last year it has been familiarising Federal and State Government departments and research organisations on the potential uses of high speed imaging from cameras, infrared sensors, multispectral instruments and lightning detectors in Geostationary orbit. Investment vehicle Horizon Global Ltd. has previously been involved in internet broadband content. Subject to completion of due diligence, Horizon Global Ltd. will issue AstroVision shareholders a mix of shares in and options for purchases of shares in Horizon Global Ltd. in exchange for 51 per cent of AstroVision.

AstroVision Australia's Managing Director Michael Hewins comments: "We are very excited by the strong support from Horizon Global. The financial backing will allow us to take the vital steps to developing market awareness for the capabilities of our technology and securing contracts with our targeted customer base."

There will be 19,507,500 shares in Horizon at an implied value of 5.0 cents per share; 9,753,750 options on Horizon shares at a strike price of 10 cents on or before 31 December, 2007; and 7,753,750 options at a strike price of 15 cents on or before 31 December, 2008. Injection of funds under the arrangement will allow AstroVision to move to the next stage in plans for launch of a Geostationary satellite in equatorial orbit. This satellite will provide a rapid stream of imaging and sensing data for the Asia-Pacific, as far as latitudes 80 degrees north and south.

A Geostationary satellite, orbiting at the same speed as the earth's rotation, would provide continuous coverage 24 hours a day, seven days a week from a fixed location high above the Earth, allowing cloud weather patterns and cyclones to be monitored continuously. Movements of ships, ocean temperatures, emissions of volcanic ash, growth of pastures and locations of lightning strikes causing bushfires are among many terrestrial and oceanographic observations which would be greatly enhanced through the satellite.

Advanced instrumentation, derived from equipment developed primarily for NASA interplanetary missions, will provide much more frequent observations than is possible with present day equipment. Australia has been chosen as the headquarters for AstroVision because of an obvious gap in modern geostationary satellite coverage for the Asia-Pacific. Australia and other countries in this region are currently critically dependent for weather observations on one 11- years-old, partially disabled US geostationary imaging satellite with obsolete instrumentation, operated on lease from the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Called GOES-9 (GOES stands for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite), it has only a limited remaining life. Sudden failure of GOES-9 would place our region in a precarious position, affecting a wide range of industries and economies.

The AstroVision 24 hour satellite coverage will be distinct from, and complementary to, that offered by rapidly-orbiting Low Earth Orbit (LEO) imaging satellites. These LEOs give coverage for, at best, 15 minutes at a time once a day before disappearing over the horizon. The business model allows the total annual cost to be shared between a number of different government departments, research bodies, private clients and users across the Asia-Pacific region.