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General Dynamics Teams with Boston University on NASA Project

NEEDHAM, Mass. – General Dynamics Network Systems has teamed with Boston University and NASA on a new space program designed to map the gases that pervade the universe. General Dynamics Network Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD).

Boston University’s “Spectroscopy and Photometry of the Intergalactic Medium’s Diffuse Radiation” (SPIDR) project was recently selected to be the next mission in NASA’s Small Explorer program, which provides flight opportunities for highly focused and relatively inexpensive science missions. SPIDR, to be launched in 2005, will for the first time map the “cosmic web” of hot gas that permeates the universe. The project is expected to yield a fundamental understanding of the creation and evolution of galaxies and other large stellar formations.

General Dynamics will provide ground station services, including all telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C) necessary to collect data and track orbits.

Led by Boston University, the NASA-funded SPIDR mission includes co-investigators from eight other universities and collaborators from the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Mass. Boston University scientists will design and build the innovative ultraviolet spectrograph to be used on board the SPIDR spacecraft, which will be built by Draper Laboratory.

“This is an exciting opportunity to team with a world-class university on a mission at the forefront of astronomy,” said Peter Vedder, senior manager of Space & Communications Advanced Programs for General Dynamics Network Systems.

General Dynamics SpacePlexâ in Las Cruces, N.M., will be the location for the SPIDR Mission Operations Center and the primary SPIDR ground station. General Dynamics will provide flight operations for SPIDR, including near real-time monitoring and control, mission scheduling, and spacecraft and instrument trend analysis.

General Dynamics Network Systems provides satellite systems and services to civil, commercial and military customers around the world. Its performance record includes 30 years of satellite operations, engineering, ground systems and teleport services, for customers that include NASA, the U.S. military and commercial businesses.

General Dynamics Network Systems has been designing and building complex telecommunications networks for nearly 50 years. More than 4,000 skilled technical personnel provide design, integration, installation and support services for backbone, wireless and space-based networks. More information about General Dynamics Network Systems is available at www.gd-ns.com.

General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs approximately 54,000 people worldwide and anticipates 2002 revenues of $14 billion. The company has leading market positions in land and amphibious combat systems, mission-critical information systems and technologies, shipbuilding and marine systems, and business aviation.

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Any "forward-looking statements" contained in this press release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

General Dynamics Corporation (ticker: GD, exchange: NYSE)
News Release - Friday, September 6, 2002
Press Contact: (781) 455-2286