Shuttle Astronauts to Install Ball Aerospace's COS and WFC3 Science Instruments Aboard Hubble Space Telescope
October 31 2006 - 11:44AM
PR Newswire (US)
BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball Aerospace's
historic role as a key contributor to the Hubble Space Telescope
was underscored today with the announcement of an additional
servicing mission. Ball Aerospace has built a total of seven
instruments for the Hubble. Following next year's servicing, all
five of the instruments aboard the telescope will be Ball
Aerospace-built instruments. (Photo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061031/LATU075) Ball
Aerospace built the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) and the Wide
Field Camera 3 (WFC3), both of which will be installed by shuttle
astronauts during the 2008 servicing mission. The mission will
extend the operating life of the telescope until at least 2013, and
greatly enhance its scientific capability. "Ball Aerospace has made
significant contributions to the Hubble program for 28 years," said
David L. Taylor, president and chief executive officer of Ball
Aerospace & Technologies Corp. "We became still more invested
in Hubble's success in 1993 after engineers at Ball designed the
optics that corrected the spherical aberration of Hubble's primary
mirror. We take great pride in knowing that we have contributed a
total of seven instruments to 'the people's telescope.'" Both COS
and WFC3 contain advanced technology sensors, which far surpass
what has been available on Hubble to-date, and improvement factors
of 10X-70X are expected in certain key performance areas. COS will
be more than 30 times more sensitive in the far-ultraviolet than
earlier Hubble ultraviolet spectrographs, and will be able to
observe distant quasars too faint for detection by previous
spectrographs. WFC3 will be sensitive to wavelengths from the
near-ultraviolet to the near-infrared spectrum. This broad range
expands our ability to make new discoveries and to understand
existing data about the universe and galaxies. Using a 4,000 x
4,000 pixel charged couple device detector with a large field of
view, WFC3 provides images with less "background noise" than
previous instruments. The seven Hubble instruments built by Ball
aerospace include: the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph, one of
the original science instruments launched aboard HST; the
Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement, the
supplemental optics installed into HST in 1993 that successfully
corrected the spherical aberration of Hubble's primary mirror; the
Near-infrared Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer, one of two
axial replacements installed in 1997; and the Space Telescope
Imaging Spectrograph, the second of two axial replacements
installed in 1997. The Advanced Camera for Surveys was installed
during the March 2002 servicing mission. In addition to its
significant Hubble contributions, Ball Aerospace is the principal
subcontractor for the Hubble follow-on mission -- the James Webb
Space Telescope (JWST). Ball's contribution of advanced optical
technology and lightweight mirror system lies at the heart of JWST.
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 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 Exhibit 99.2 in our Form 10-K, which 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; the effect of LIFO accounting; and any changes to
such accounting. Factors that might affect our aerospace segment
include: funding, authorization, availability and returns of
government and commercial contracts; and delays, extensions and
technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts. Factors that
might affect the company as a whole include those listed plus:
accounting changes; 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; pension changes; 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/20061031/LATU075
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Ball Aerospace &
Technologies Corp. CONTACT: Media, Roz Brown, +1-303-939-6146, ,
for Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
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