Ball Aerospace Selected for Two Cloud Cameras on Glory Mission
June 26 2006 - 3:05PM
PR Newswire (US)
BOULDER, Colo., June 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball Aerospace
& Technologies Corp. will design and build two cloud cameras
for the Glory mission under contract to NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center. The Glory mission is part of the U.S. Climate Change
Science Program to improve our understanding of what forces
influence global environmental changes and how to predict those
changes. Glory is a remote-sensing Earth-orbiting observatory
scheduled to launch in 2008 for a three-year mission life. The
mission will collect data on aerosols as well as radiant energy
emitted by the sun. Two instruments will be deployed in order to
accomplish these objectives. They include the Aerosol Polarimetry
Sensor (APS); and the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM). The Ball
Aerospace cloud cameras complement the APS instrument, being
developed by Raytheon Civil Space Programs. "These semi-custom
CT-633 star tracker cameras have been the standard for Ball
Aerospace missions for over a decade and include the wide-field
camera onboard the recently launched CALIPSO mission," said David
L. Taylor, president and chief executive officer of Ball Aerospace.
"Since 1967 Ball Aerospace has designed and built six generations
of versatile, reliable, and cost-effective star trackers that
continue to reach new levels of performance." As part of the
Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor package, the cloud cameras will
distinguish between cloud fields and clear scenes over land and the
ocean, in order to collect data on chemical, microphysical, and
optical properties, and spatial and temporal distributions of
aerosols. At the same time, the TIM instrument, being developed by
the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space
Physics, will collect total solar irradiance data. Both instruments
should help shed light on how human factors contribute to global
warming compared to natural climate variability caused by the sun.
Ball Aerospace celebrates its 50th year in business in 2006. The
company began building pointing controls for military rockets in
1956, and later won a contract to build one of NASA's first
spacecraft, the Orbiting Solar Observatory. Over the years, the
company has been responsible for numerous technological and
scientific 'firsts' and now acts as a technology innovator in
important national missions. Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) is a
supplier of high-quality metal and plastic packaging products and
owns Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., which develops
sensors, spacecraft, systems and components for government and
commercial customers. Ball reported 2005 sales of $5.8 billion and
the company employs 15,600 people worldwide. Forward-Looking
Statements This news release contains "forward-looking" statements
concerning future events and financial performance. Words such as
"expects," "anticipates," "estimates" and similar expressions are
intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such 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 filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including in Exhibit 99.2 in our 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 and preferences; availability and cost of raw
materials, including 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; failure to achieve anticipated productivity improvements
or production cost reductions, including those associated with our
beverage can end project; the German mandatory deposit or other
restrictive packaging laws; changes in major customer or supplier
contracts or loss of a major customer or supplier; changes in
foreign exchange rates, tax rates and activities of foreign
subsidiaries; and the effect of LIFO accounting. Factors that might
affect our aerospace segment include: funding, authorization,
availability and returns of government contracts; and delays,
extensions and technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts.
Factors that might affect the company as a whole include those
listed plus: acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures;
integration of recently acquired businesses; regulatory action or
laws including tax, environmental and workplace safety;
governmental investigations; technological developments and
innovations; goodwill impairment; antitrust, patent and other
litigation; strikes; labor cost changes; rates of return projected
and earned on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement
plans; changes to the company's pension plans; reduced cash flow;
interest rates affecting our debt; and changes to unaudited results
due to statutory audits or other effects. DATASOURCE: Ball
Aerospace & Technologies Corp. CONTACT: Media, Roz Brown of
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., +1-303-939-6146,
Copyright
Ball (NYSE:BLL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Ball (NYSE:BLL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024