Ball Aerospace Wins Study Contract For Weather and Environment Observing System
October 30 2003 - 4:36PM
PR Newswire (US)
Ball Aerospace Wins Study Contract For Weather and Environment
Observing System BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. today announced the receipt
of a contract award to develop a system architecture for the next
generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
(GOES-R) system, planned for launch in 2012. The GOES satellite
system provides imagery and associated data used to predict our
planet's weather and to monitor the environment. Under this
contract, Ball Aerospace will develop an end-to-end configuration
for the satellites and associated ground system for the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "We are very
committed to the work being done on the GOES program," said David
L. Taylor, president and chief executive officer, Ball Aerospace
& Technologies Corp. "Instruments and spacecraft that are
designed to study weather and the environment are a big part of our
heritage at Ball Aerospace and a key focus for our current and
future business." The GOES satellites provide critical data used by
forecasters at the National Weather Service to predict the weather
and monitor many aspects of the environment. From their
geosynchronous orbits, these satellites continuously observe the
Earth, tracking routine weather patterns as well as the development
of severe weather such as hurricanes and tornadoes. The GOES data
are increasingly important to forecasters as they strive to improve
the reliability of weather and climate predictions. NOAA will use
the results from the GOES-R system architecture studies to enhance
the performance of the GOES system in support of this objective.
Ball Aerospace will apply its nearly 50 years of experience
building space instrumentation and high performance spacecraft to
the GOES-R architecture study. The company has extensive
environmental and weather spacecraft and sensor experience,
including two series of instruments used by NASA and NOAA to
monitor ozone depletion. Ball Aerospace has built spacecraft for
NASA to measure winds over the Earth's oceans, and is currently
developing spacecraft and sensors for two NASA missions to evaluate
the three-dimensional global distribution of clouds. Ball Aerospace
is building the spacecraft for the National Polar-orbiting
Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory
Project (NPP) for NASA, and is building the Ozone Mapping and
Profiler Suite (OMPS) instrument for NPOESS. In support of GOES-R,
Ball Aerospace is also nearing completion of a development study
for one of the two primary sensors, the Advanced Baseline Imager
(ABI). This extensive experience of successfully building weather
and climate sensing instruments and highly capable spacecraft is
expected to benefit the development of the GOES-R system
architecture. Ball Aerospace conducts domestic and international
business in the defense, civil and commercial space arenas,
providing best value and innovative solutions. The company supports
national policy-makers, the military services, NASA and other U.S.
Government agencies, as well as numerous aerospace industry
companies. Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) is one of the world's
leading suppliers of metal and plastic packaging to the beverage
and food industries. The company also owns Ball Aerospace &
Technologies Corp. With the addition of Ball Packaging Europe,
acquired in December 2002, Ball expects to report 2003 sales of
approximately $5 billion, of which approximately $4.5 billion will
come from its two packaging segments and $500 million from its
aerospace and technologies segment. Forward-Looking Statements The
information in this news release contains "forward-looking"
statements. Actual results or outcomes may differ materially from
those expressed or implied. As time passes, the relevance and
accuracy of forward-looking statements contained in this release
may change. The company currently does not intend to update any
particular forward-looking statement except as it deems necessary
at quarterly or annual release of earnings. Please refer to the
Form 10-Q filed by Ball Corporation on August 12, 2003, for a
summary of key risk factors that could affect actual results or
outcomes. Factors that might affect the packaging segments of the
company are: fluctuation in consumer and customer demand;
competitive packaging material availability, pricing and
substitution; the weather; fruit, vegetable and fishing yields;
company and industry productive capacity and competitive activity;
lack of productivity improvement or production cost reductions;
regulatory action or laws, including the German mandatory deposit
or other restrictive packaging laws and environmental and workplace
safety regulations; availability and cost of raw materials, energy
and transportation; the ability or inability to pass on to
customers changes in these costs, particularly resin, steel and
aluminum; pricing and ability or inability to sell scrap;
international business risks (including foreign exchange rates and
tax rates) particularly in the United States, Europe and in
developing countries such as China and Brazil; and the effect of
LIFO accounting on earnings. Factors that may affect the aerospace
segment are: funding, authorization and availability of government
contracts and the nature and continuation of those contracts; and
technical uncertainty associated with aerospace segment contracts.
Factors that could affect the company as a whole include those
listed plus: successful and unsuccessful acquisitions, joint
ventures or divestitures and the integration activities associated
therewith including the integration and operation of the business
of Schmalbach-Lubeca AG, now known as Ball Packaging Europe; the
inability to purchase the company's common stock; insufficient or
reduced cash flow; regulatory action or laws including those
related to corporate governance and financial reporting,
regulations and standards; actual and estimated business
consolidation and investment costs and the net realizable value of
assets associated with these activities; goodwill impairment;
changes in generally accepted accounting principles or their
interpretation; litigation; antitrust, intellectual property,
consumer and other issues; strikes; boycotts; increases in various
employee benefits and labor costs, specifically pension, medical
and health care costs incurred in the countries in which Ball has
operations; rates of return projected and earned on assets of the
company's defined benefit retirement plans; interest rates and
level of company debt, including floating rate debt; terrorist
activities, war or catastrophic events that disrupt or impact
production, supply or pricing of the company's goods and services,
including raw materials and energy costs, or disrupt or impact the
credit and financing of the company's businesses; and U.S. and
foreign economic conditions. DATASOURCE: Ball Aerospace &
Technologies Corp. CONTACT: Emilia Reed, +1-303-939-6551, or
Rachelle Wood, +1-303-939-6606, both of Ball Aerospace &
Technologies Corp., Web site: http://www.ballaerospace.com/
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