Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. today delivered the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, camera to Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colo. for integration into the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). HiRISE is expected to return extremely detailed, color images of the Martian surface from its orbit around the red planet. The powerful camera was designed to study landscape details as small as the magazines on your living room coffee table and will be the most powerful telescopic camera ever sent to orbit a foreign planet.

The extensive data provided by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and its suite of six scientific instruments will complement the new view of Mars provided by the Mars Rovers from their posts on the planet's surface. The MRO mission will also pave the way for the Phoenix Lander (expected to launch August 2007) and a robotic rover mission called the Mars Science Laboratory (expected to launch October 2009). The six instruments aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will return up to 40 times more data to Earth than any previous Mars mission.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., under contract with the University of Arizona, designed, built and tested the HiRISE camera for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter being built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) manages the MRO mission as part of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

The HiRISE camera will now undergo mission scenario testing with experts from JPL, Lockheed Martin and the University of Arizona in preparation for its launch, scheduled for August 2005.

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 government and commercial markets. Ball employs 13,100 people worldwide and reported 2003 sales of $4.9 billion.

Forward-Looking Statements

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 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.