Flashline.com Secures Naming Rights to M.A.R.S. – Online software component marketplace Flashline.com sponsors Mars Society Habitat

FLASHLINE.COM SECURES NAMING RIGHTS TO M.A.R.S.

Online software component marketplace Flashline.com sponsors Mars Society Habitat

INDIAN HILLS, Colo. – January 26, 2000 – The Mars Society announced today that Flashline.com, the premier software component marketplace, has elected to sponsor the $1.3 million Mars Arctic Research Station (M.A.R.S.), the world’s first fully-simulated Mars base. This innovative sponsorship by Flashline.com allows the company to become more involved in humankind’s historic reach into space, an effort in which technological quality plays such a critical role. Flashline will donate $175,000 to the society. In return for this generosity the Mars Society has decided to name the habitat the Mars Society Flashline Arctic Research Station. The habitat, located on Devon Island in Nunavut, Canada began construction in December 1999 and is expected to be operational in July of 2000.

Although the high tech community has widely adopted the notion of naming rights in North American professional sports, The Mars Society Flashline Arctic Research Station marks the first agreement of its kind in the aerospace industry.

The Mars Society is one of the fastest growing space advocacy groups in existence and is committed to the further exploration of Mars and the rest of the solar system. The Mars Society Flashline Arctic Research Station is the first major project for the society and underscores its commitment to science. As a contributing part of NASA’s Haughton Mars Project, the station will enable scientists, engineers and eventually astronauts to test the equipment and technology for habitation, transportation, life support, and recycling for future deployment on Mars missions.

Dr. Robert Zubrin, president of The Mars Society said, “This agreement demonstrates Flashline.com’s vision. The securing of naming rights is just the first step for private companies as they see more opportunities in space exploration.”

“The computer industry and the space program have always been intertwined in a historic synergy that has fueled advancements in both earth-bound and space-related technology,” said Charles M. Stack, president and CEO of Flashline.com. “My hope is that The Mars Society’s projects will re-energize public and private efforts to explore space. We are extremely honored to participate in this project.”

ABOUT THE MARS SOCIETY

The Mars Society, founded in August 1998, is a non-profit organization with over 2,400 members representing 30 countries. Its purpose is to further the goal of the exploration and settlement of the Red Planet. This will be done by broad public outreach to instill the vision of pioneering Mars, support of ever more aggressive government funded Mars exploration programs around the world, and conducting Mars exploration on a private basis. Starting small, with hitchhiker payloads on government funded missions, the society intends to use the credibility that such activity will engender to mobilize larger resources that will enable stand-alone private robotic missions and ultimately human exploration. For more information, visit http://www.marssociety.org.

ABOUT FLASHLINE.COM

Flashline.com is a privately held company pioneering the development of the world’s first true software component marketplace. It is a leading resource to research, buy and sell reusable JavaBeans, Enterprise JavaBeans, COM, and CORBA software components. This award-winning site is fourth in a family of successful Internet companies created by Charles Stack, who is well known for creating the first Internet retail store.