Ball Aerospace's Deep Impact Spacecraft Headed to Comet Hartley 2
December 14 2007 - 1:35PM
PR Newswire (US)
BOULDER, Colo., Dec. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The flyby
spacecraft built for the successful Deep Impact Mission by Ball
Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has been funded by NASA to
embark on a new mission to encounter comet Hartley 2 on October 11,
2010. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071214/LAF035)
The Deep Impact Extended Investigation (DIXI), and the Extrasolar
Planet Observations and Characterization (EPOCh), together known as
the EPOXI mission, will support two goals: the DIXI mission will
send the flyby spacecraft to investigate the surface of comet
Hartley 2; and while en route, the EPOCH mission will engage the
larger of the spacecraft's two telescopes to search for small
planets around stars with already discovered large planets. Deep
Impact accomplished its first successful mission on July 4, 2005,
when the flyby spacecraft released its impactor spacecraft to
create the historic encounter with Comet Tempel 1. The flyby
spacecraft then skillfully maneuvered away from the comet's debris
and has since been orbiting around the sun, awaiting its next
assignment. "We are gratified that Ball's successful architecture
for the Deep Impact mission allows NASA to task our viable flyby
spacecraft to pursue 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. 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 NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
which provides project management. NASA had initially planned to
send the spacecraft to comet Boethin in December 2009, but
astronomers at multiple observatories could not locate the comet in
time for the planned flyby of Earth. Scientists theorize comet
Boethin may have broken up into pieces too small for detection.
NASA then elected to send the Deep Impact flyby to a backup target,
comet Hartley 2, (which will occur on New Year's Eve) with the
relevant maneuver executed on November 1, 2007. NASA' s Discovery
missions of opportunity are cost-capped solar system exploration
missions with highly focused scientific goals. The DIXI mission is
designed to provide additional information on how comets were
formed and evolved. It would employ both the Ball Aerospace-built
Medium Resolution (MRI) and the High Resolution Imagers (HRI)
extensively, as well as the onboard spectrometer. The EPOCh
investigation also will use Deep Impact's HRI to observe stars,
watching as the giant planets, already known to be orbiting the
stars, pass in front of and then behind them. The collected data
will be used to characterize the planets and to determine whether
they possess rings, moons, or Earth-sized planetary companions.
EPOCh's sensitivity will exceed both current ground- and
space-based observatory capabilities. EPOCh also will measure the
Earth's mid-infrared spectrum, providing comparative data for
future efforts to study the atmospheres of extrasolar planets. 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 products 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
product 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;
competitive activity; failure to achieve anticipated productivity
improvements or production cost reductions, including our beverage
can end project; 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/20071214/LAF035
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Ball Aerospace &
Technologies Corp. CONTACT: Roz Brown of Ball Aerospace &
Technologies Corp., +1-303-533-6059, Web site:
http://www.ballaerospace.com/
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