AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Astrotech (NASDAQ: ASTC) subsidiary 1st Detect today announced that its new explosives trace detector (ETD), the TRACER 1000, will enter the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC)’s Common Evaluation Process (CEP) for airport checkpoint screening of passengers and cargo in the coming months.
ECAC is the European regulator on aviation security, equivalent to the United States’ Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The CEP was established to provide standards for security equipment performance across ECAC’s 44 member nations.
“We are pleased to be taking this major step toward European Qualification of our TRACER 1000, and are confident that our system will meet and exceed CEP performance standards,” said Thomas B. Pickens III, CEO of 1st Detect and Astrotech.
ECAC certification represents a significant milestone toward selling to airports and governments internationally. Non-ECAC States with their own testing programs recognize the value of the CEP’s stringent testing procedures and performance standards.
“In addition to achieving TSA certification for passenger and cargo screening, both of which are on track, we look forward to having another major endorsement that serves to validate our system’s superior detection and security capabilities,” said Raj Mellacheruvu, COO of 1st Detect and Astrotech.
About the TRACER 1000™
Unveiled in January 2018, the TRACER 1000 is a desktop explosives and narcotics trace detector that uses mass spectrometry (MS) technology to rapidly detect and identify trace amounts of a wide variety of military, commercial-grade and homemade explosives, plus narcotic substances such as fentanyl. With gold-standard specificity, a near-zero false positive rate and a virtually unlimited threat library, the TRACER 1000 is expected to greatly improve civilian safety at security checkpoints, while optimizing cargo and passenger throughput.
About Astrotech
Astrotech is an innovative science and technology company that invents, acquires, and commercializes technological innovations sourced from research institutions, laboratories, and internally–and then funds, manages and builds scalable start-up companies for profitable divestiture to market leaders to maximize shareholder value. 1st Detect develops and sells chemical analyzers for use in the security, defense, healthcare and environmental markets. For more information, please visit www.astrotechcorp.com.
This press release contains 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, whether we can successfully develop our proprietary technologies and whether the market will accept our products and services, as well as other risk factors and business considerations described in the Company’s Securities and 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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