Ball Aerospace Flies Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Radiometer Aboard NOAA-L Satellite Launched Today

Business Wire, Sept 21, 2000

Business Editors/Science Writers

BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 21, 2000

When the $209 million NOAA-L weather satellite launched successfully this morning from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., it carried a spectral radiometer built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.

The Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Radiometer 2 (SBUV/2) globally maps the concentration and vertical distribution of ozone in the Earth's atmosphere.

SBUV was initiated at Ball Aerospace in 1980, with a first launch four years later. The SBUV/2 monitors density and distribution of ozone in the Earth's atmosphere from six to 30 miles. Atmospheric ozone absorbs the sun's ultraviolet rays, which are believed to cause gene mutations, skin cancer and cataracts in humans. Ultraviolet rays may also damage crops and aquatic ecosystems.

Ball Aerospace has produced a family of eight SBUV instruments under contract to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and NOAA in the last two decades and is currently completing its ninth SBUV/2.

The atmospheric ozone measurements produced by SBUV/2 are integrated into an ultraviolet index compiled by the National Weather Service and the Environmental Protection Agency. The index predicts the risk of ultraviolet exposure at the noon hour every day for various U.S. cities. It rates the risk on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 or higher being the maximum risk for sunburn and other exposure damage.

For example, cities in Colorado have a higher risk of ultraviolet exposure due to the high altitude and the greater number of sunny days than cities at lower elevations.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. provides imaging and communications products for commercial and government customers worldwide and is a subsidiary of Ball Corporation (NYSE:BLL), a Fortune 500 company which had sales of $3.6 billion in 1999.