Ball Aerospace Completes Schmidt Corrector Optic Bonding for Kepler

    BOULDER, Colo., May 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball Aerospace &
 Technologies Corp. ( BLL) has successfully completed the critical
 milestone of bonding the Schmidt Corrector optic to its mounting ring for
 the Kepler Mission. Ball anticipates delivery of all Kepler optics by
 late-June. The spacecraft integration is scheduled to begin in August 2007,
 while Kepler photometer integration with the spacecraft will begin in July
 2008.
     (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070530/LAW113)
     Ball is building both the photometer and spacecraft for the Kepler
 mission, and will manage system integration and testing. A Discovery
 mission, Kepler is NASA's first mission capable of finding Earth-size and
 smaller planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars.
     Photo accompanying this release is available at
 http://www.ballaerospace.com
     The photometer consists of a classical Schmidt telescope with an
 aperture of 95 cm, a primary mirror of 1.4 meters, and an array of 42 CCDs
 at the focus. It features a focal plane array with more than 95 million
 pixels that will measure the brightness of 100,000 stars every 30 minutes.
 The Schmidt optic corrector plate is suspended from its mounting ring
 3-meters (10 feet) above the telescope's primary mirror, and will be used
 to correct spherical aberration after the telescope is on-orbit. Kepler is
 scheduled to launch in November, 2008.
     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 now acts
 as a technology innovator for the aerospace market.
     Ball Corporation 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.
 
 

SOURCE Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.