Ball Aerospace's Deep Impact Spacecraft Chosen for NASA's EPOXI Mission
July 10 2007 - 3:05PM
PR Newswire (US)
BOULDER, Colo., July 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The successful
Deep Impact flyby spacecraft built by Ball Aerospace &
Technologies Corp., will be returned to service for two NASA
Discovery assignments -- the Deep Impact Extended Investigation
(DIXI), and the Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization
(EPOCh), together known as the EPOXI mission. (Photo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070710/LATU161) Deep Impact
successfully completed its initial mission on July 4, 2005, when
the flyby spacecraft released its impactor spacecraft to create the
historic encounter with Comet Tempel 1. The flyby then maneuvered
away from the comet's debris and has since been orbiting around the
sun awaiting its next instructions. "This is an extremely efficient
use of the already proven Deep Impact spacecraft that will return
additional scientific discoveries for a fraction of the cost of a
new mission," said Cary Ludtke, Ball Aerospace vice president and
general manager of the Civil and Operational Space business unit.
The DIXI mission will send the flyby spacecraft to the unexplored
Comet Boethin on Dec. 5, 2008. As it passes approximately 300 miles
from the comet, the spacecraft's infrared spectrometer will map the
comet's surface composition, while the telescope observes surface
features. While en route to Comet Boethin, the EPOCh mission will
use the Deep Impact spacecraft telescope to learn more about
previously discovered Jupiter-like planets orbiting nearby stars
and search for evidence of Earth-sized planets. Ball Aerospace will
interface with Michael A'Hearn, EPOXI principal investigator and
DIXI science team lead; L. Drake Deming, EPOXI's deputy principal
investigator and EPOCh investigation lead; and the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory to plan spacecraft trajectory maneuvers and science data
collection and downlink to the ground. Events this year include
commanding the spacecraft out of hibernation mode, a complete
system health checkout, and an Earth flyby for a gravity assist to
Comet Boethin. NASA' s Discovery missions of opportunity are
cost-capped solar system exploration missions with highly focused
scientific goals. 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. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070710/LATU161
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Ball Aerospace &
Technologies Corp. CONTACT: Roz Brown, +1-303-533-6059, , for Ball
Aerospace & Technologies Corp. Web site:
http://www.ballaerospace.com/
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