Ball Aerospace's QuikSCAT Celebrates Eighth On-Orbit Anniversary
June 19 2007 - 1:35PM
PR Newswire (US)
BOULDER, Colo., June 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Quick
Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) satellite built by Ball Aerospace &
Technologies Corp. completed eight years of outstanding on-orbit
operations today, performing six years beyond its minimum two-year
mission requirement. QuikSCAT continues to return critical wind
data to forecast hurricanes and El Nino effects and pinpoint
typhoons and other marine storms, as well as help scientists
measure the mass of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets.
QuikSCAT data has improved the warning time for tropical cyclone
development in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific hurricane basins.
Using wind field data from QuikSCAT, researchers are able to detect
potential cyclones in these regions earlier than traditional
capabilities allowed. This early detection of storms could allow
residents more time to prepare for adverse weather conditions.
"QuikSCAT has clearly demonstrated its reliability to both
government and commercial customers, providing quality forecasting
data to scientists and meteorologists -- the type of data that
could easily be extended with a new scatterometer mission," said
David L. Taylor, president and CEO of Ball Aerospace. QuikSCAT is a
polar orbiting satellite with an 1800 km wide measurement swath on
the earth's surface, circling the earth from a distance of 800 km
(500 miles). Generally, this results in 400,000 measurements daily
over a given geographic region. The onboard SeaWinds scatterometer
has enhanced global climate research by recording sea-surface winds
over the oceans on a 25km x 25km spatial scale. NASA awarded its
first Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition fixed-price contract to Ball
Aerospace for the QuikSCAT, which was completed in 11 months -- an
industry record for a spacecraft of its size. The QuikSCAT Ball
Commercial Platform (BCP 2000) architecture has since been used for
the Ball Aerospace-built QuickBird I and II satellites, the ICESat
and CloudSat satellites, and the National Polar-Orbiting
Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project.
Designed to measure ocean winds, SeaWinds has proven useful in many
other applications. Earlier this year, it detected the most
widespread Antarctic melting ever observed using satellites during
the past three decades. In 1999, it detected a mammoth, previously
lost iceberg called B10A in the Drake Passage shipping lane. The
iceberg is now tracked for the National Ice Center to route supply
ships into and out of Antarctica's McMurdo station. QuikSCAT was
built for the Goddard Space Flight Center and the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL). The scatterometer sensor was built by JPL. The
satellite is operated through a subcontract with the University of
Colorado/Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.
http://www.ballaerospace.com/page.jsp?page=143 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: Media, Roz Brown of
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., +1-303-533-6059, or
+1-303-939-6146, Web site:
http://www.ballaerospace.com/page.jsp?page=143
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