Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. is ahead of schedule to meet an aggressive timetable on the WorldView satellite for delivery to its customer, DigitalGlobe.

Following the successful critical design review (CDR) in June, the optical bench has been delivered and the Ball Aerospace team has completed optical bench vibration tests.

"The successful CDR was an important milestone in the program for making progress on our schedule," said Cary Ludtke, vice president and general manager for commercial space operations. "We have an aggressive timetable that supports satellite integration and instrument delivery by mid-2005. Getting the optical bench through its first environmental test was another important milestone in progressing on our aggressive schedule."

WorldView will implement the Ball Commercial Platform 5000 (BCP 5000) based on the highly successful Ball Commercial Platform 2000 (BCP 2000). Currently six BCP 2000 have been successfully deployed or are in production, including the QuickBird satellite launched in 2001, which also teamed Ball and DigitalGlobe.

Once launched, WorldView will be the world's only half-meter resolution commercial imaging satellite and will provide still higher resolution imaging capability than QuickBird, currently the world's highest resolution commercial Earth imaging satellite in operation.

Ball Corporation is a supplier of high-quality metal and plastic packaging products and innovative packaging solutions to the beverage and food industries. The company also owns Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., which develops sensors, spacecraft, systems and components for the government and commercial markets. Ball employs 12,600 people worldwide and reported 2003 sales of $4.9 billion.

The information in this news release contains "forward-looking" statements and other statements concerning future events and financial performance. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking 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 the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, especially in Exhibit 99.2 in the most recent Form 10-K. These filings are available at the company's website and at http://www.sec.gov/ . Factors that might affect the packaging segments of the company include fluctuation in consumer and customer demand; competitive packaging material availability, pricing and substitution; changes in climate and weather; fruit, vegetable and fishing yields; industry productive capacity and competitive activity; lack of productivity improvement or production cost reductions; the German mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging laws; availability and cost of raw materials, such as resin, steel and aluminum, and the ability to pass on to customers changes in these costs; changes in major customer contracts or the loss of a major customer; international business risks, such as foreign exchange rates and tax rates; and the effect of LIFO accounting on earnings. Factors that might affect the aerospace segment include: funding, authorization and availability of government contracts and the nature and continuation of those contracts; and technical uncertainty associated with segment contracts. Factors that could affect the company as a whole include those listed plus: successful and unsuccessful acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures and associated integration activities; regulatory action or laws including environmental and workplace safety; goodwill impairment; antitrust and other litigation; strikes; boycotts; increases in various employee benefits and labor costs; rates of return projected and earned on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement plans; reduced cash flow; and interest rates affecting our debt.

SOURCE: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.