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1st Detect Receives $1.8 Million Investment for Commercialization of Chemical Detector
Austin, Texas, March 3, 2010 1st Detect Corporation announced today it is the
recipient of a $1.8 million investment from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF). The
investment will go toward commercialization of 1st Detect s portable mass spectrometer,
used to detect residues and vapors from a wide range of chemicals, including explosives, chemical
warfare agents, toxic chemicals, and volatile organic compounds.
Now more than ever, companies are looking to Texas as the best state in the nation to foster and
grow innovative technologies thanks to our skilled and educated workforce and investments from the
TETF, Gov. Perry said. This investment in 1st Detect will help make the detection of harmful
substances more accurate and cost efficient, and will be an important tool for a variety of
industries, from security to medicine.
1st Detect Corporation was initially formed by Astrotech Corporation to commercialize
miniature-mass spectrometer technology first developed for the International Space Station. 1st
Detect created the Miniature Chemical Detector (MCD), a product that revolutionizes the chemical
detection market by combining the performance of a mass spectrometer in a small, easily portable
package. The broadband nature of the instrument, as well as the extreme performance provided by the
ion trap architecture, makes the 1st Detect MCD an ideal detection tool for a variety of
applications, including security, healthcare and industrial markets.
With this investment from the TETF, we will be able to continue developing a technology that has
the potential to make a great impact in the safety of our troops and our nation, said John Porter,
Chief Executive Officer for the Company. This technology has the potential to greatly enhance the
ability of law enforcement and the military to detect chemical and explosive threats by increasing
the accuracy of chemical detection by orders of magnitude.
The commercialization award will be used to finalize product design of the chemical detector and
market it to the security, healthcare, and industrial sectors. 1st Detect plans on
converting their early prototype into a working field model that can be deployed in a wide variety
of applications. 1st Detect is currently partnered with The University of North Texas,
which will supply expertise in product miniaturization, as well as developmental testing support.
About 1st Detect Corporation
1st Detect Corporation was initially formed by Astrotech Corporation (Nasdaq: ASTC) to
commercialize miniature-mass spectrometer technology first developed for the International Space
Station (ISS). 1st Detect offers the Miniature Chemical Detector, a breakthrough device
in mass spectrometry that fills a niche by being highly accurate, lightweight, portable, durable
and inexpensive. The 1st Detect ion trap based design is roughly the size of a shoe box,
weighs approximately 15 pounds, and can be operated with battery power. Additionally, the Miniature
Chemical Detector is capable of detecting residues and vapors from explosives, chemical warfare
agents, toxic chemicals, food and beverage contamination, illicit drugs and pollution. It is also
very sensitive, accurate, and fast which provides orders of magnitude better informing power than
competing products. For more information about 1st Detect, please see our website at
The statements in this document may contain forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to
the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such
forward-looking statements are subject to risks, trends, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from the
forward-looking statement. These factors include, but are not limited to, continued government
support and funding for key space programs, product performance and market acceptance of products
and services, as well as other risk factors and business considerations described in the company s
Securities Exchange Commission filings including the annual report on Form 10-K. Any
forward-looking statements in this document should be evaluated in light of these important risk
factors. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
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