Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has been selected by DigitalGlobe(R), provider of the world’s highest resolution commercial satellite imagery and geospatial information products, to build WorldView 2, its third satellite in a constellation of spacecraft that offer the highest-resolution imagery of Earth. WorldView 2 is the fourth remote-sensing satellite built by Ball Aerospace for Digital Globe.
“The WorldView 2 spacecraft bus is the eighth contracted program in our Ball Commercial Platform (BCP) satellite product line,” said Ball Aerospace President and CEO, David L. Taylor. “The BCP product line continues to mature in reliability, capability and state-of-the-art technology. The WorldView 2 contract builds upon our heritage of more than 16 years of successful on-orbit mission performance.”
Ball Aerospace will provide the BCP 5000 for WorldView 2, anticipated to launch in 2008. The spacecraft bus offers increased resolution and target selection flexibility, and accommodates future optical, scientific and Synthetic Aperture Radar remote-sensing payloads. The BCP 5000’s power, stability, agility, and data storage and transmission capability, together meet the requirements to deliver comprehensive Earth remote-sensing information.
Ball Aerospace is completing integration of the sensor for WorldView 1, scheduled to be on-orbit in mid-2007. Once launched, WorldView 1 will supply half-meter resolution commercial imagery content to DigitalGlobe customers worldwide, and will provide still-higher resolution imaging capability than the Ball Aerospace-built QuickBird satellite. The advanced Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs) provided by Ball for WorldView 1 and WorldView 2, afford the satellites the flexibility and agility to capture more imagery than ever before. The addition of WorldView 2 provides the capability of 8-band multispectral pictures at resolutions as sharp as 1.8 meters and panchromatic at half-meter.
DigitalGlobe is a leader in the commercial marketplace providing unprecedented imagery with the highest resolution, largest footprint and highest accuracy of any other commercially available satellite imagery in the world.
“Since our first successful teaming with the QuickBird launch in October 2001, DigitalGlobe and Ball Aerospace have been making history in meeting the increased demand for Earth imaging collection,” said Jill Smith, DigitalGlobe president and CEO. “The WorldView satellites will further enhance our contributions to the geospatial information market.”
Ball Aerospace celebrated 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 (NYSE: BLL) 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 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; 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; 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.
