WISE Completes CDR at Ball Aerospace
June 12 2007 - 3:08PM
PR Newswire (US)
BOULDER, Colo., June 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball Aerospace
& Technologies Corp. has successfully completed the Critical
Design Review (CDR) for the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer
(WISE) spacecraft, a NASA mission that will provide an infrared map
of the universe. The CDR demonstrated satellite bus design
maturity, validated cost and schedule documentation, and verified
test requirements. Scientists and engineers from NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center, the Space
Dynamics Laboratory, and Ball Aerospace concluded that CDR criteria
had been successfully met to proceed with spacecraft integration.
The mission CDR will be held later this month, with software
integration and test of the electro-mechanical avionics scheduled
to begin in September. The WISE RS-300 spacecraft derives from the
Ball Aerospace NextSat spacecraft built for the successful Orbital
Express mission launched on March 9, 2007. The flight system has an
estimated mass of 560 Kg (about 1,175 pounds) and will fly at an
altitude of about 313 miles. The spacecraft will be three-axis
stabilized, with body-fixed solar arrays and use a high-gain
antenna to transmit to ground through the TDRSS geostationary
system. In addition to building the spacecraft, Ball Aerospace will
perform test, and flight system integration. WISE has a
four-channel, super-cooled infrared telescope that will reveal
nearby cool stars, planetary "construction zones" and the brightest
galaxies in the universe. Following its launch in 2009, WISE is
designed to identify stars closest to the sun, detect main-belt
asteroids larger than three kilometers in size, enable a wide
variety of studies in star formation and galactic structures, and
assist the James Webb Space Telescope program identify which
objects to observe following its expected 2013 launch. WISE is one
of several cryogenically cooled infrared systems supported by Ball
Aerospace. Other programs have included the Infrared Astronomical
Satellite (IRAS), the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), the
Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Near Infrared Camera and
Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) for the Hubble Space Telescope.
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. supports critical missions
of important national agencies such as the Department of Defense,
NASA, NOAA and other U.S. government and commercial entities. The
company develops and manufactures spacecraft, advanced instruments
and sensors, components, data exploitation systems and RF solutions
for strategic, tactical and scientific applications. Over the past
50 years, Ball Aerospace has been responsible for numerous
technological and scientific 'firsts' and acts as a technology
innovator for the aerospace market. Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) is
a supplier of high-quality metal and plastic packaging products for
beverage, food and household customers, and of aerospace and other
technologies and services, primarily for the U.S. government. Ball
Corporation and its subsidiaries employ more than 15,500 people
worldwide and reported 2006 sales of $6.6 billion. 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; crop 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; and changes in foreign
exchange rates, tax rates and activities of foreign subsidiaries.
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; successful or unsuccessful 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. DATASOURCE: Ball
Aerospace & Technologies Corp. CONTACT: Roz Brown of Ball
Aerospace & Technologies Corp., +1-303-939-6146 or
+1-303-533-6059,
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