SpaceDev Completes Acquisition of Starsys Research

POWAY, Calif., Feb. 3, 2006/Satnews Daily/ —SpaceDev (OTCBB: SPDV) has completed the acquisition of Starsys Research Corp. after each company obtained approval from over 98 percent of shares voting on the merger and unanimous approvals from both companies’ board of directors.

SpaceDev said the combined company is headquartered in California and maintains operating centers in California, Colorado and North Carolina, with over 50 active projects. It will have almost 200 employees dedicated to the design and manufacture of affordable and innovative space products for commercial, military and civilian government use.

Mark N. Sirangelo, CEO and vice-chairman of SpaceDev, said by combining the broad range of high tech space product development and production capabilities of Starsys with SpaceDev's capabilities for designing and building high performance, low cost satellites, spacecraft and propulsion systems, the two firms are creating a dynamic mid-sized company focused on filling the expanding need for affordable and rapid access to space.

Starsys designs and manufactures mechanical systems and mechanisms that open, close, release, and move components on spacecrafts. This includes motion-control actuators, cover systems, deployment systems, and separation systems. Starsys' components have been utilized with 100 percent operational success on over 200 missions, including the Mars Rover, Cassini, and Deep Impact. Starsys' quality is exemplified by the Mars Rover missions, in which Starsys provided 25 mechanisms for each rover controlling almost everything that moves, including cameras, science experiments and the drive mechanisms that allow the rovers to roam the Martian surface.

SpaceDev said Scott Tibbitts, chairman and CEO of Starsys, will remain with the combined companies in the role of managing director and as a director on the board of directors. Robert Vacek, president of Starsys prior to the merger, will continue as the president of Starsys, Inc., a division of SpaceDev.

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