Ball Aerospace Delivers Orbital Express NextSat Spacecraft
August 24 2006 - 1:34PM
PR Newswire (US)
BOULDER, Colo., Aug. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball Aerospace
& Technologies Corp. announced today the successful delivery of
the NextSat Commodities Spacecraft (NextSat/CSC) to The Boeing
Company's Orbital Express (OE) program for the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Scheduled to launch late this
year, OE is designed to demonstrate technological readiness of
autonomous satellite servicing. (Photo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060824/LATH050) "On-schedule
delivery of the next-generation OE spacecraft furthers the
development of robotic refueling, configuration and repair of
spacecraft on orbit," said David L. Taylor, president and chief
executive officer of Ball Aerospace. "Ball Aerospace is proud to
contribute to innovative technologies and program performance that
advance new missions and new capabilities for our nation's
defense." The satellite demonstration mission is set to conduct the
first autonomous component exchange and first U.S. refueling, as
well as autonomous rendezvous and docking. The dual-satellite
mission includes the Autonomous Space Transfer and Robotic Orbiter,
or ASTRO, built by the The Boeing Company, and NextSat/CSC,
launched in a "stacked" or mated flight configuration. The two
spacecraft are designed to transfer between them spacecraft fuel
and an Orbital Replacement Unit containing a back-up battery. Later
in the three-month mission, the two spacecraft are scheduled to
separate and demonstrate a rendezvous and capture sequence. The
NextSat/CSC has a dual role in the Orbital Express mission. It will
emulate the 'client' spacecraft needing service, and as the
'commodities' spacecraft. In an active spacecraft constellation the
commodities spacecraft would be an orbiting depot storing fuel and
replacement or upgraded spacecraft components. The NextSat
spacecraft bus design is based on the Ball Aerospace-built Impactor
spacecraft for the Deep Impact program that successfully fulfilled
its mission by colliding with comet Tempel 1 in 2005. The Impactor
was able to autonomously steer itself into the path of comet Tempel
1 last year, using similar technologies that the NextSat/CSC
spacecraft bus will use to demonstrate rendezvous and capture
sequences during its mission. Ball Aerospace is celebrating 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 for important national missions. Ball
Corporation (NYSE:BLL) is a supplier of high-quality metal and
plastic packaging products and owns Ball Aerospace &
Technologies Corp. Ball reported 2005 sales of $5.8 billion and
employs 15,600 people. 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.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060824/LATH050
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Ball Aerospace &
Technologies Corp. CONTACT: Roz Brown of Ball Aerospace &
Technologies Corp., +1-303-939-6146,
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