[White Label Space Press Release - 30.08.2009]
White Label Space has announced its newest Partner, AOES Group BV (AOES). AOES is a well-established supplier of specialist engineering services to the European Space Agency (ESA) with a long track record dating back to 1980. AOES will contribute to White Label Space’s no-name space mission to land on the Moon, which will provide massive media exposure and sponsorship opportunities for the world’s biggest brands.

White Label Space is one of nineteen teams around the world competing in the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a competition for privately-funded teams to send a robotic mission to surface of the Moon and transmit a data package including photos and HD videos back to Earth.

AOES staff will undertake work packages for the White Label Space team, providing specialist support for design and analysis tasks related to the structures, thermal and propulsion subsystems of the Lander and Rover. Additionally, AOES MediaLab will develop captivating media content promoting the White Label Space team.

The Chief Executive Officer of AOES Group, Paul Pearson, said about the partnership “Europe will play a major role in the upcoming wave of lunar missions. Partnering with a team as strong as White Label Space gives AOES an entry on the technical challenges facing these upcoming missions. AOES sees a unique opportunity to exploit future business based around the new technologies that White Label Space is developing for the mission. We look forward to a rewarding partnership with White Label Space”

Under the partnership agreement AOES is also providing office space and infrastructure to support the team’s technical headquarters in the Netherlands, the venue from where White Label Space core engineering team coordinates its global network of technical Partners.

The White Label Space team leader, Steve Allen, commented “We are very pleased to have AOES join us as a Partner. It is a good example of how well-established space companies are starting to realize the benefits of being involved in the Google Lunar X PRIZE. By joining early, AOES is getting a chance to stake its claim to some of the great commercial opportunities within the consortium that we are building to execute our mission.”

AOES is the sixth Partner to join the White Label Space team. The five existing Partners are:

• The Swiss Propulsion Laboratory (SPL) which is developing a low-cost engine for the landing stage of the White Label Space mission. SPL has long experience developing cheap and reliable rocket propulsion systems for numerous customers. SPL has a rocket motor test bench located on the same site as its workshop and engineering design offices, enabling rapid and extensive testing of its engine designs.
• The Space Robotics Lab at Tohoku University in Japan which will work with White Label Space to design a Moon rover for the mission. The lab is led by Professor Kazuya Yoshida and has contributed to numerous Japanese space missions including the Hayabusa asteroid sample return mission.
• JAQARsoftware.com is White Label Space's partner for orbital design and mission analysis. JAQARsoftware.com provides quality, easy-to-use intelligent software tools that allow its customers to solve complex spaceflight problems such as satellite trajectory optimization in short time on everyday desktop PCs. Clients include many of the top space companies and agencies across Europe, the USA and Asia.
• Lunar Numbat is a team of Australians and New Zealanders who are using their skills and Open Source technologies to develop new software and electronic hardware in support of the White Label Space mission.
• Wroclaw University of Technology's Institute of Telecommunications, Teleinformatics and Acoustics which has extensive experience developing aerospace communications equipment including the Amateur Radio for the ISS (ARISS) antenna which is now flying on the European Columbus Module of the International Space Station.

About AOES Group BV
The AOES Group is an international engineering services and consultancy provider with over 100 employees. AOES provides large and small customers in the space, aircraft and offshore industries with technical support in the areas of Engineering Services, Information Technology, and Visual and Technical Communication. AOES is a well-established supplier of niche engineering services to the European Space Agency (ESA) with a long track record dating back to 1980. AOES also has an aircraft engineering team specialized on the analysis of complex structures for customers in the aerospace industry including EADS/Airbus. The MediaLab branch of the AOES Group produces Technical and Visual Communication products such as 3D visualizations and animations as well as 2D graphic design and multimedia for the space and life sciences industries. MediaLab is highly regarded for its abilities to transform technical subjects into visually appealing images and movies. The AOES Group also includes an IT Services team that has been a pioneer in implementing server-based/thin-client installations within the European Space Agency for over 15 years. AOES is an abbreviation for Advanced Operations and Engineering Services. [www.aoes.com]

About White Label Space
White Label Space joined the Google Lunar X PRIZE in May 2009 and is comprised of people from many nationalities, including England, Netherlands, Australia, United States, France, Japan, Brazil, Italy, Germany, Norway and Portugal. The team’s name originates from the concept of a “White Label” product which is a generic brand, developed by one company and then sold to another brand. White Label Space sees the Google Lunar X PRIZE as the beginning of the next wave of space exploration where the common person can become a contributor and not just a spectator. [www.whitelabelspace.com/2008/01/about-us.html]

About the Google Lunar X PRIZE
The Google Lunar X PRIZE is an international competition organized by the X PRIZE Foundation which previously ran the Ansari X PRIZE for suborbital space vehicles. The Google Lunar X PRZIE calls for privately-funded teams to compete in successfully launching, landing, and then traveling across the surface of the moon while sending back to Earth specified photo and other data. The PRIZE will award US$20 million to the first team to land a robot on the moon that successfully travels more than 500 meters and transmits back high definition images and video. There is a $5 million second prize, as well as $5 million in bonus prizes for challenges such as traveling long distances, photographic images of man-made objects on the Moon, detecting water ice or surviving a lunar night. The $20 million first-place prize is available until December 31, 2012, and then it drops in value to $15 million until December 31, 2014. [www.googlelunarxprize.org]

Media Contact:
Andrew Barton
+31 (0)71 579 5535
andrew.barton@whitelabelspace.com