BOULDER, Colo., April 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global
Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI), designed and built by Ball Aerospace for NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center, is entering its fourth year of service. Designed as a 3-year mission, GMI has performed successful operations on orbit
while exceeding its performance requirements. The GPM spacecraft that hosts the GMI instrument is a joint effort between NASA and
the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to provide frequent, near-global precipitation information critical for improving
weather forecasting and protecting lives and property.
"Ensuring mission success and good value for programs is how we help our customers go beyond," said Rob Strain, president of Ball Aerospace. "The GMI instrument is a perfect example of this, as it has surpassed
its design life and continues to deliver valuable science and weather data."
The GMI instrument is a
multi-channel, conical-scanning, microwave radiometer serving an essential role in the near-global-coverage and frequent-revisit-time requirements of the GPM mission.
"NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement mission is improving our understanding of precipitation patterns around the world,
and it will continue to do so well into the future," said Chris Scolese, director of NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center. "The GMI now serves as a reference standard for calibrating precipitation measurements in the GPM
constellation."
Ball designed, built and tested GMI, and provided pre- and post-launch support for the instrument. GMI's high-frequency
channels measure small particles of ice, snow and rain in the atmosphere. When combined with the JAXA-built Dual-Frequency
Precipitation Radar instrument, these instruments provide comprehensive data to produce global rain maps and climate research
data products. GMI enables the core spacecraft to serve as both a precipitation standard and a radiometric standard for the other
spacecraft in the GPM constellation. By serving as the calibration standard in the GPM constellation, Ball's GMI instrument is
helping to ensure the accuracy and precision of other instruments.
For more than five decades, Ball Aerospace has designed and built weather and environmental spacecraft and sensors to provide
actionable intelligence to civilian and military weather forecasters. GMI's design is based on proven Ball-built microwave
sensors, including the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C (SIR-C), GEOSAT Follow-On (GFO) and
the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite.
Ball has played key roles on numerous national and international programs that make critical measurements of the physical
environment. These include designing and building the spacecraft for the next-generation Joint Polar-orbiting Satellite System-1
(JPSS-1), designing and building the spacecraft for the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP), and building the
CloudSat spacecraft. Ball also designed and built the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) instrument aboard Suomi-NPP, and a
second OMPS that will fly on the JPSS-1 weather satellite, as well as the polar follow-on missions. Ball also built the LIDAR and
wide-field camera instruments, the communications equipment, and integrated the payload for NASA's CALIPSO satellite program,
which has orbited the Earth more than 43,000 times in its nearly 11-year history as it studies how clouds and aerosols impact the
Earth's climate.
Ball Aerospace pioneers discoveries that enable our customers to perform beyond expectation and protect what matters
most. We create innovative space solutions, enable more accurate weather forecasts, drive insightful observations of our
planet, deliver actionable data and intelligence, and ensure those who defend our freedom go forward bravely and return home
safely. For more information, visit www.ball.com/aerospace or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter.
Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL) supplies innovative, sustainable packaging solutions for beverage, food and household
products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation
and its subsidiaries employ 18,450 people worldwide and 2016 net sales were $9.1 billion. For more
information, visit www.ball.com, or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter.
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in our Form 10-K, which are available on our website and at www.sec.gov.
Additional factors that might affect: a) our packaging segments include product demand fluctuations; availability/cost of raw
materials; competitive packaging, pricing and substitution; changes in climate and weather; competitive activity; failure to
achieve synergies, productivity improvements or cost reductions; mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging laws; customer
and supplier consolidation, power and supply chain influence; changes in major customer or supplier contracts or a loss of a
major customer or supplier; political instability and sanctions; currency controls; and changes in foreign exchange or tax rates;
b) our aerospace segment include funding, authorization, availability and returns of government and commercial contracts; and
delays, extensions and technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts; c) the company as a whole include those listed plus:
changes in senior management; regulatory action or issues including tax, environmental, health and workplace safety, including
U.S. FDA and other actions or public concerns affecting products filled in our containers, or chemicals or substances used in raw
materials or in the manufacturing process; technological developments and innovations; litigation; strikes; labor cost changes;
rates of return on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement plans; pension changes; uncertainties surrounding
geopolitical events and governmental policies both in the U.S. and in other countries, including the U.S. government elections,
budget, sequestration and debt limit; reduced cash flow; ability to achieve cost-out initiatives and synergies; interest rates
affecting our debt; and successful or unsuccessful acquisitions and divestitures, including with respect to the Rexam PLC
acquisition and its integration, or the associated divestiture; the effect of the acquisition or the divestiture on our business
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SOURCE Ball Aerospace