Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
Media Contact:
(303) 533-6059
October 31, 2006
Shuttle Astronauts to Install Ball Aerospace’s COS and WFC3 Science
Instruments aboard Hubble Space Telescope
Boulder, Colo. – Ball Aerospace built the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS)
and the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), both of which will be installed by
shuttle astronauts during the 2008 servicing mission. The mission will
extend the operating life of the telescope until at least 2013, and greatly
enhance its scientific capability.
“Ball Aerospace has made significant contributions to the Hubble program for
28 years,” said David L. Taylor, president and chief executive officer of
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. "We became still more invested in
Hubble’s success in 1993 after engineers at Ball designed the optics that
corrected the spherical aberration of Hubble’s primary mirror. We take great
pride in knowing that we have contributed a total of seven instruments to
the people’s telescope.’ "
Both COS and WFC3 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 more than
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.
The seven 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, the supplemental optics installed into HST in 1993 that
successfully corrected the spherical aberration of Hubble’s primary mirror;
the Near-infrared Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer, one of two axial
replacements installed in 1997; and the Space Telescope Imaging
Spectrograph, the second of two axial replacements installed in 1997. The
Advanced Camera for Surveys was installed during the March 2002 servicing
mission.
In addition to its significant Hubble contributions, Ball Aerospace is the
principal subcontractor for the Hubble follow-on mission – the James Webb
Space Telescope (JWST). Ball’s contribution of advanced optical technology
and lightweight mirror system lies at the heart of JWST. Ball Aerospace is
celebrating its 50th year in business in 2006. The company began building
pointing controls for military rockets in 1956, and later won a contract to
build one of NASA’s first spacecraft, the Orbiting Solar Observatory. Over
the years, the company has been responsible for numerous technological and
scientific firsts’ and now acts as a technology innovator for important
national missions.
Ball Corporation is a supplier of high-quality metal and plastic packaging
products and owns Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. Ball reported 2005
sales of $5.8 billion and employs 15,600 people.
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 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; fruit, vegetable and fishing 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; changes in foreign
exchange rates, tax rates and activities of foreign subsidiaries; the effect
of LIFO accounting; and any changes to such accounting. 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;
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.
IMAGE CAPTION:
[http://www.ballaerospace.com/media/images/COS_lg.jpg (106KB)]
The Wide Field Camera 3 is one of two next-generation instruments to be
installed on the Hubble Space Telescope during the 2008 servicing mission.
