UA in exclusive deal for LED technology

Arizona Daily Star

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.29.2009

Solterra Renewable Technologies announced an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with the University of Arizona for its patented screen-printing techniques to fabricate LEDs, or light-emitting diodes.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Tempe-based company, a subsidiary of Hague Corp., said the agreement to make organic LEDs will greatly reduce the cost and thus expand their use.

LEDs are used in batteries, sensors, conductors, lighting, and logic and memory. The UA technology makes significant improvements and could result in lower prices and higher definition, increased viewing angles, lower power consumption and reduced response time for an enhanced picture, Solterra said.

Solterra CEO Stephen Squires said in a prepared statement that screen-printing techniques have “useful similarities” to the solar cells that Solterra makes.

Monday, July 20, 2009, 4:27pm MST | Modified: Monday, July 20, 2009, 5:36pm

Phoenix Business Journal

Raytheon Co. — which has its missile division based in Tucson — was awarded three Pentagon contracts Monday totaling close to $119 million.

That includes a $16.8 million order to produce missile defense weapons and systems used on naval ships. Work on that contract will be done in Tucson, Fort Defiance in far northeastern Arizona, as well as in Germany and Kentucky, according to the U.S. Defense of Department.

Raytheon also got nods on a $60 million contract for missiles to be used on destroyer ships and a $41.8 million contract for targeting technology for Swiss fighter jets.

Work on the later two jobs will not be done in Arizona, but in San Diego and El Segundo, Calif., among other locations

Tucson firm to ensure health data for Miss.

Arizona Daily Star

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.15.2009

Scientific Technologies Corp., a Tucson-based company that specializes in public-health-information systems, has been awarded an $8 million, multiyear contract with the state of Mississippi to provide health-information systems to support disease-prevention and disease-management programs.

STC will provide computerized tracking systems for immunization and disease reporting in support of public-health programs.

National Science Foundation grant for UA

Previous research effort on Asian rice prompts $1.5M grant to sequence West African rice DNA

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.14.2009

A UA research effort that helped unlock the genetic code of Asian rice has been awarded $1.5 million to unravel the makeup of rice grown in West Africa.

University of Arizona professors Rod Wing and Steve Rounsley will use the National Science Foundation grant to understand how the rice in West Africa — which grows in harsher, drier climates than its Asian counterpart — is able to thrive.

In analyzing the genetic code of the West African rice, the researchers could help other strains of rice adapt and flourish in a future that is expected to put a serious strain on food resources, according to a UA news release.

Joint venture awarded $298M for missile work

Arizona Daily Star

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.11.2009

The Raytheon Co.-Lockheed Martin Javelin Joint Venture has been awarded a five-year, $298.6 million contract by the U.S. Army to provide contract support for the Javelin anti-tank missile and launch unit.

The contract, which has a fiscal year 2009 value of $34.9 million, requires the joint venture to provide spares, repair support, training and data, Raytheon said.

Javelin is called the world’s first man-portable, fire-and-forget, medium-range missile system.

Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems handles the program for Raytheon Co.

Tucson company charging ahead with battery research

Sion Power Corp. joins chemical giant BASF to fuel electric-car market

By Enric Volante

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.06.2009

A Tucson company plans to have an advanced battery ready for the electric- car market in about two years.

Sion Power Corp. announced it is collaborating with chemical giant BASF to accelerate commercialization of Sion’s proprietary battery technology.

Sion also is finalizing terms of an $800,000 grant, announced by the U.S. Department of Energy in June, to further develop the company’s lithium-sulfur battery technology.

The grant is part of nearly $11 million in funds that the Department of Energy allocated to seven organizations to work on lithium batteries for electric vehicles.

Evidence mounts that Mars was once habitable

by Anne Ryman – Jul. 3, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

The ancient soil at Mars’ northern pole may have been able to support life millions of years ago.

Scientists with the University of Arizona-led Phoenix Mars Mission are publishing research today that advances the theory that water once flowed and the Red Planet was once habitable. Researchers found a lot of the basic ingredients that life needs to survive, including water in the form of ice, various minerals and a salt called perchlorate that microbes on Earth use as an energy source.

“This is what we went looking for, and we found it,” said UA Professor Peter H. Smith, who was the lead scientist on the five-month mission, which ended in November.

Raytheon awarded new Sidewinder work

Arizona Daily Star

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.01.2009

The U.S. Navy awarded Raytheon Co. a $167 million contract to build AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.

The company said Tuesday that the contract would provide more than 250 jobs, plus work for more than 10 major suppliers of components in eight states.

The missiles are built at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson and at Raytheon plants in Andover, Mass., and Goleta, Calif.