Multimedia News Release - Ball's Deep Impact Spacecraft Prepares to Meet Comet Tempel 1
June 27 2005 - 8:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Multimedia News Release - Ball's Deep Impact Spacecraft Prepares to
Meet Comet Tempel 1 BOULDER, Colo., June 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/
-- In one of the most daring deep space missions NASA has ever
undertaken, the Deep Impact spacecraft, designed and built by Ball
Aerospace & Technologies Corp., is entering the final days of a
six-month journey to reach comet Tempel 1 on Independence Day.
Approximately 24 hours before the encounter, the Impactor
spacecraft will separate from the Flyby spacecraft and autonomously
move directly into the path of the approaching comet. The encounter
with Tempel 1 will occur nearly 83 million miles from Earth and at
closing speeds approaching 23,000 miles-per-hour. To view the
Multimedia News Release, go to:
http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/ball/21897 "Deep Impact is a highly
technical and complicated mission," said David L. Taylor, president
and CEO of Ball Aerospace. "Together with our teammates at NASA,
JPL and the University of Maryland, we built a one-of-a-kind
spacecraft to expand our knowledge of comets," Taylor added. The
Impactor is expected to vaporize upon impact. The kinetic energy of
the collision is expected to create a crater the size of a football
field and propel material from the comet's nucleus into space. Deep
Impact's telescopes, cameras and spectrometer aboard the Flyby
spacecraft will monitor the impact from a vantage point of about
300 miles away and return data on the pristine material in the
crater and other surface material ejected by the impact. The Flyby
spacecraft's Medium Resolution Imager (MRI) and High Resolution
Imager (HRI), the latter which is the largest interplanetary
telescope ever flown, will record the details of the collision. The
Impactor spacecraft will also provide close-encounter photos of the
comet just prior to collision, giving scientists the most complete
view of a comet to date. The impact will be observed by multiple
Ball-built cameras. In addition to the instruments on the Deep
Impact spacecraft, NASA's Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra observatories
will also capture images of the event. Ball produced key
technologies for all three of these missions. Ball Aerospace
developed and integrated the Flyby spacecraft, the Impactor
spacecraft, and science instruments, including three telescopes,
three cameras and a spectrometer for analyzing the interior of the
comet. Deep Impact is the eighth mission in NASA's Discovery
Program, and the first mission to attempt to impact with a comet
nucleus in order to probe beneath its surface. For more information
about Deep Impact, please visit: http://www.ballaerospace.com/
http://www.nasa.gov/ http://deepimpact.umd.edu/ Ball Corporation
(NYSE:BLL) is a supplier of metal and plastic packaging products,
primarily for the beverage and food industries. The company also
owns Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., which develops
sensors, spacecraft, systems and components for government and
commercial markets. Ball Corporation employs more than 13,200
people and reported 2004 sales of $5.4 billion. Note to Editors:
Ball Aerospace's role in the Deep Impact mission is featured in a
new Video News Release (VNR), which is being made available to
national broadcast media during the week of June 27, 2005. Senior
team members note the design challenges in making the spacecraft
and exude the excitement that accompanies this daring,
one-of-a-kind mission. The VNR may be viewed at the following
address: http://www.prnewswire.com/broadcast/21825/consumer.shtml
Forward-Looking Statements The information in this news release
contains "forward-looking" statements and other statements
concerning future events and financial performance. Words such as
"expects," "anticipates," "estimates," and variations of same and
similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially
from those expressed or implied. The company undertakes no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise. Key risks and uncertainties are summarized in the
company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
especially in Exhibit 99.2 in the most recent Form 10-K. These
filings are available at our Web site and at http://www.sec.gov/.
Factors that might affect our packaging segments include
fluctuation in consumer and customer demand; availability and cost
of raw materials, particularly the recent significant increases in
resin, steel, aluminum and energy costs, and the ability to pass
such increases on to customers; competitive packaging availability,
pricing and substitution; changes in climate and weather; fruit,
vegetable and fishing yields; industry productive capacity and
competitive activity; lack of productivity improvement or
production cost reductions; the German mandatory deposit or other
restrictive packaging laws; changes in major customer or supplier
contracts or loss of a major customer or supplier; international
business risks, including foreign exchange rates, tax rates and
activities of foreign subsidiaries; and the effect of LIFO
accounting on earnings. Factors that might affect aerospace segment
include: funding, authorization and availability of government
contracts and the nature and continuation of those contracts; and
technical uncertainty associated with segment contracts. Factors
that could affect the company as a whole include those listed plus:
acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; regulatory action or
laws including environmental and workplace safety; governmental
investigations; goodwill impairment; antitrust and other
litigation; strikes; boycotts; increases in employee benefits and
labor costs; rates of return projected and earned on assets of the
company's defined benefit retirement plans; reduced cash flow;
interest rates affecting our debt; and changes to unaudited results
due to statutory audits or management's evaluation of the company's
internal control over financial reporting.
http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/ball/21897DATASOURCE: Ball Aerospace
& Technologies Corp. CONTACT: Colorado Media: Roz Brown,
+1-303-939-6146, or cell, +1-720-581-3135, , or Media Contacts at
the Jet Propulsion Lab: Dave Beachley, +1-303-533-5089, or cell,
+1-303-564-2440, , or Emilia Reed, +1-303-939-6551, or cell,
+1-303-378-7181, , all of Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
Web site: http://www.ballaerospace.com/ http://www.nasa.gov/
http://deepimpact.umd.edu/
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