BOULDER, Colo., Nov. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Ball Aerospace
& Technologies Corp. is part of a team selected to build the
first space-based instrument to monitor major air pollutants across
the North American continent for NASA's Tropospheric Emissions:
Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) mission.
Led by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Mass., the TEMPO team will build a
geostationary ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) spectrometer to
continuously measure ozone, aerosols and other trace gases over
greater North America. The geostationary position of the
instrument will allow delivery of regional, hourly readouts of
atmosphere data during daylight hours. This data will advance
air quality research on how air pollution affects climate change
and air quality on a continental scale.
"While Ball is at the forefront of low Earth orbit instrument
development, the TEMPO spectrometer will be the company's first
geostationary instrument for NASA," said Cary Ludtke, vice president and general manager
for Ball's Civil and Operational Space business unit. "TEMPO takes
advantage of our expertise and technology developed for previous
ultraviolet-visible instruments that have already flown or are
currently on orbit."
Those instruments include the Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite
(OMPS) flying aboard the nation's newest climate and weather
satellite, Suomi NPP, and the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas
Experiment (SAGE). The sophisticated optical system built by Ball
Aerospace for the James Webb Space Telescope relies on the same
UV-VIS heritage.
NASA anticipates the TEMPO instrument will catch a ride on a
commercial communications satellite as a hosted payload when it is
completed in September 2017. Mission
costs will be capped at $90 million,
excluding the launch vehicle and integration to the selected
satellite platform.
"With TEMPO's assistance you may eventually check your smart
phone, for example, to obtain a read-out on your city's current air
quality information before you lace up your sneakers and head out
for a run," said Ludtke.
Led by the Smithsonian's principal investigator, Kelly Chance, TEMPO is part of NASA's Earth
Venture Instrument program that includes small, targeted science
investigations designed to complement NASA's larger research
missions. TEMPO is NASA's first Earth Venture Instrument
award under the agency's Earth System Science Pathfinder
program. In addition to Ball Aerospace, the TEMPO team
includes NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.; NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Md.; the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency in Research Triangle Park, N.C.; and several U.S.
universities and research organizations.
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. supports critical
missions for 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. For more
information visit www.ballaerospace.com.
Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) is a supplier of high quality
packaging 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 14,500 people worldwide and reported 2011 sales of more than
$8.6 billion. For the latest Ball
news and for other company information, please visit
http://www.ball.com.
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 on our website and at
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; mandatory
deposit or other restrictive packaging laws; changes in major
customer or supplier contracts or loss of a major customer or
supplier; political instability and sanctions; and changes in
foreign exchange rates or tax rates. 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
recent global recession and its effects on liquidity, credit risk,
asset values and the economy; successful or unsuccessful
acquisitions; regulatory action or laws including tax,
environmental, health and workplace safety, including U.S. FDA and
other actions affecting products filled in our containers, or
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; uncertainties
surrounding the U.S. government budget and debt limit; 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.