While Boeing [NYSE: BA] is preparing to deliver a
proposal to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for what could become the
nation’s first nuclear-fission powered exploration spacecraft, the company
also is using its unique space heritage and expertise to propel robotic
solar system exploration farther than Jupiter.

NASA recently granted Boeing $250,000 to provide a technology development
road map for supporting science objectives for a mission to Neptune under
its Vision Missions studies program. Boeing, the only industrial entity to
receive such a grant, is providing mission design solutions for a possible
Neptune polar orbiter with atmospheric probes.

"We look forward to supporting NASA in its conquest of space," says Mike
Mott, Boeing NASA Systems vice president and general manager. "We will use
our experience in complex space systems to enable NASA to gain more
scientific insights into the solar system."

Additionally, Boeing has joined two university-led Vision Missions teams
providing robotic and human in-space assembly and servicing options for two
possible space-based observatories. One is led by the University of Texas to
study Vision Missions concepts for a Single Aperture Far Infrared (SAFIR)
telescope and the other by Cornell University in its study of a Far-Infrared
and Submillimeter Interferometer telescope (FIR/SMM). The universities were
each awarded approximately $300,000 NASA Vision Missions grants.

University of Texas SAFIR principal science investigator Dan Lester says
Boeing brings capabilities ranging from its nuclear heritage, to human space
flight, to robotics, to the project study.

Cornell University principal science investigator Martin Harwit, professor
emeritus of astronomy, says its FIR/SMM project team looks forward to taking
advantage of the company’s expertise in human and robotic assembly of
complex payloads in space.

Like the gas giants Saturn and Jupiter, Neptune has no solid surface, and
scientists believe further research of the planet’s external and internal
structures could yield greater insight into the processes that formed the
solar system.

The Neptune Orbiter with Probes study will explore technological
capabilities that would make a 21ST century second-decade flagship launch
feasible and provide an assessment of nuclear-electric propulsion as a
potential power source for the spacecraft. Dr. David Atkinson of the
University of Idaho is the science principal investigator.

The SAFIR (pronounced SAPPHIRE) Vision Missions study is the first step
toward approval and scheduling of the observatory, which could launch as
soon as 2015. SAFIR is projected to be a supercooled space telescope
studying the heavens in the far-infrared region of the spectrum and may
provide insight into the nature of black holes and the identity of
pre-biotic molecules present in planet forming regions.

The wide-field imaging FIR/SMM observatory would complement SAFIR and use an
extended baseline to also scan the galaxy in the far-infrared region of the
spectrum. The FIR/SMM telescope would search for the first stars to form in
the universe, today’s forming stars and the evolution of planetary systems
around newly developing stars.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world
‘s largest space and defense businesses. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing
Integrated Defense Systems is a $27 billion business. It provides systems
solutions to its global military, government, and commercial customers. It
is a leading provider of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; the
world’s largest military aircraft manufacturer; the world’s largest
satellite manufacturer and a leading provider of space-based communications;
the primary systems integrator for U.S. missile defense; NASA’s largest
contractor; and a global leader in launch services.