Video: Ball Aerospace Instruments COS & WFC3 Head to Hubble Space Telescope
May 05 2009 - 7:01AM
PR Newswire (US)
BOULDER, Colo., May 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The historic
mission to service NASA's Hubble Space Telescope this month will
include installation of two instruments built by Ball Aerospace
& Technologies Corp. Astronauts flying aboard Space Shuttle
Atlantis expect to leave the Hubble at the apex of its scientific
capabilities following their 11-day mission. The historic mission
to service NASA's Hubble Space Telescope this month will include
installation of two instruments built by Ball Aerospace &
Technologies Corp. Astronauts flying aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis
expect to leave the Hubble at the apex of its scientific
capabilities following their 11-day mission. Atlantis is scheduled
to launch on Monday, May 11, at 2:01 EDT. To view the Multimedia
News Release, go to:
http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/ballaerospace/33581/ The Ball
Aerospace-built Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) and the Wide
Field Camera 3 (WFC3) will be installed; and upgrades will be made
to two critical Ball instruments: the Space Telescope Imaging
Spectrograph (STIS), installed in 1997; and the Advanced Camera for
Surveys (ACS), installed during the 2002 servicing mission. The
celebrated mission will extend the operating life of the telescope
and greatly enhance its scientific capability. "Ball Aerospace is
extremely proud to be part of NASA's historic return to the Hubble
Space Telescope," said David L. Taylor, president and CEO of Ball
Aerospace & Technologies Corp. "Hubble has provided us with the
most amazing images in the universe and will expand those offerings
following installation of the two new instruments provided by Ball
Aerospace." Ball has made significant contributions to the Hubble
program for more than 30 years and became a key player after our
engineers designed and built the Corrective Optics Space Telescope
Axial Replacement that compensated for the original primary mirror
flaw and enabled optimum performance of several science
instruments. Ball also built and assembled more than a thousand new
tool parts that comprise the Crew Aids and Tools (CAT), to be used
by STS-125 astronauts when they arrive at Hubble to repair STIS and
ACS. "The NASA contractor teams including the Ball team have built
great tools in a very short time frame to allow us to do this
task," said astronaut John Grunsfeld when the STS-125 crew visited
Ball Aerospace in November 2008. Mission specialist Grunsfeld has
likened the repair of STIS and ACS to "brain surgery" in space,
because neither instrument was designed to be repaired on orbit.
Following NASA's servicing mission, all five major instruments in
operation on the orbiting observatory will have been built by Ball.
The COS and WFC3 instruments 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 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. In addition to WFC3, COS, ACS and STIS,
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, installed in 1993; and the
Near-infrared Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer, installed in
1997. 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. Since 1956, Ball Aerospace has been responsible for
numerous technological and scientific 'firsts' and is a technology
innovator in aerospace. 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 14,000 people
worldwide and reported 2008 sales of approximately $7.6 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; 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; changes in senior
management; the current global credit squeeze and its effects on
liquidity, credit risk, asset values and the economy; successful or
unsuccessful acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures;
integration of recently acquired businesses; regulatory action or
laws including tax, environmental, health and workplace safety,
including in respect of chemicals or substances used in raw
materials or in the manufacturing process; 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.prnewswire.com/mnr/ballaerospace/33581DATASOURCE: Ball
Aerospace & Technologies Corp. CONTACT: Roz Brown,
+1-303-533-6059,
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