World Surveillance Group Inc (fka WSGI)

[justfrank]

press release

Jun 9, 2009, 8:01 a.m. EST

Sanswire-TAO Receives Initial STS-111 Segmented Airship Envelope for Testing
Various Tests Conducted on Two Airships to Simultaneously Work Towards Multiple Objectives

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL and STUTTGART, GERMANY, Jun 09, 2009 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Sanswire-TAO Corp. (www.sanswiretao.com), the airship development and manufacturing joint venture equally owned by Sanswire Corp. (PINKSHEETS: SNSR) (www.sanswire.com) and TAO Technologies GmbH, has received the initial envelope structure of the segmented STS-111 airship to be used in the construction and testing of the company's first commercial production mid-altitude, mid-endurance airship.

The lightweight initial envelope structure is 111-ft. in length, 11-ft in height, and based on the patented multi-segmented, non-rigid design, which is extremely flexible and enables the airship to cope with winds encountered during flight.

Testing will take place at flight fields and at the University of Stuttgart's facilities. Throughout the testing schedule, the envelope will be outfitted with various electronics packages and will support the refinement of Sanswire-TAO's proprietary autonomous flight control system. Scientific teams will also work on the integration of the gas-cell and additional testing of the envelope in flight to evaluate a variety of atmospheric sensors as well as telemetry communications and ground controls.

The production of the commercial STS-111 airship is based on a spiral developmental cycle utilizing two separate STS-111 airship platforms aimed at achieving two separate sets of test objectives. The initial platform currently undergoing testing will be followed by a final fuelgas powered commercial platform. This second platform will house all final systems and equipment and perform higher altitude and extended duration testing.

"The delivery of the first envelope is a significant step forward for the team; it is important to us to ensure the testing is thorough as successful completion will allow further testing of additional systems and technologies during production of our first commercial STS-111 airship," said Jonathan Leinwand, CEO of Sanswire. "The efficiencies gained in terms of cost and time through the adaptation of the spiral, multi-platform, development cycle will accelerate our testing and development schedules. We have been extremely pleased with the progress and results TAO's team of engineers and scientists has delivered on the STS-111 airship thus far; this envelope testing is our primary objective and we look forward to the next step which will be flight testing."

Sanswire-TAO's range of airships is designed to address specific commercial and government needs for persistent, medium-to-long duration applications at medium and, in the near future, high altitudes to support homeland and border security and various other applications in the operational arena.

For more information and pictures of the Sanswire STS-111 Airship please visit: http://www.sanswire.com/STS111