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Ball Aerospace selected by NASA for next Medium-Class Explorer
Missions

Ball Aerospace News Release
April 14, 2003

BOULDER, Colo. - Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has been
selected by NASA as a team member to develop the Widefield Infrared
Survey Explorer (WISE). WISE is a four-channel, super-cooled infrared
telescope designed to provide a full sky, infrared map that will help
the James Web Space Telescope identify which objects to observe
following its scheduled launch in 2010.

Under contract to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ball Aerospace will
build the spacecraft and conduct mission operations for the WISE
program. A final decision to proceed to flight development on WISE
will be made in 2004, with a launch anticipated in 2008.

The Ball-built spacecraft will be based on the company's RS300
spacecraft, a family of small, low-cost remote-sensing buses. The
spacecraft, which weighs less than 250 pounds, is an offshoot of Ball
Aerospace's Deep Impact flight system. Ball Aerospace has also been
selected to build the NEXTSat spacecraft for the Orbital Express
Advanced Technology Program using the RS300.

"The WISE team has been working on the development of this mission
for four years," said Joan Howard, WISE program manager for Ball
Aerospace. "The telescope's ability to survey the entire sky, with
1,000 times more sensitivity than previous infrared missions, will
provide information to astronomers and the public that will be used
for decades to come." 

WISE is part of NASA's Explorer Program designed to provide frequent,
low-cost access to space for physics and astronomy missions with
small to mid-sized spacecraft. In addition to Ball Aerospace, other
team members include Utah State University's Space Dynamics
Laboratory, Rockwell International, Lockheed Martin, and SSG Corp.
Dr. Edward Wright of the University of California, Los Angeles, is
the Principal Investigator for WISE.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. provides remote sensing systems
and solutions to the aerospace and defense markets. It is a
subsidiary of Ball Corporation (NYSE BLL) which in addition to owning
Ball Aerospace is one of the leading suppliers of metal and plastic
packaging to the beverage and food industries. With the addition of
Ball Packaging Europe, acquired in December 2002, Ball expects sales
in 2003 of approximately $5.1 billion, $4.6 billion from its
packaging segment and $500 million from its aerospace and
technologies segment. 

Forward-Looking Statements:

The information in this news release contains "forward-looking"
statements. Actual results or outcomes may differ materially from
those expressed or implied. As time passes, the relevance and
accuracy of forward-looking statements contained in this release may
change. The Company currently does not intend to update any
particular forward-looking statement except, as it deems necessary at
quarterly or annual release of earnings. Please refer to the Form
10-K filed by Ball Corporation on March 27, 2003, for a summary of
key risk factors that could affect actual results or outcomes.
Factors that might affect the Packaging segments or business of the
Company are: fluctuation in consumer and customer demand; competitive
packaging material availability, pricing and substitution; the
weather; fruit, vegetable and fishing yields; company and industry
productive capacity and competitive activity; lack of productivity
improvement or production cost reductions; regulatory action or laws,
the German mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging
legislation, such as recycling laws; availability and cost of raw
materials, energy and transportation; the ability or inability to
pass on to customers changes in these costs, particularly resin,
steel and aluminum; pricing and ability or inability to sell scrap;
and international business risks (including foreign exchange rates)
particularly in the United States, Europe and in developing countries
such as China and Brazil. Factors that may affect the  Aerospace
segment or business are: funding, authorization and availability of
government contracts and the nature and continuation of those
contracts; and technical uncertainty associated with Aerospace
segment contracts. Factors that could affect the Company as a whole
include those listed plus: successful and unsuccessful acquisitions,
joint ventures or divestitures and the integration activities
associated therewith including the integration and operation of the
business of Schmalbach-Lubeca AG, now known as Ball Packaging Europe;
the inability to purchase the Company's common stock; regulatory
action or laws including those related to corporate governance and
financial reporting, regulations and standards, business
consolidation investment costs and the net realizable value of assets
associated with the Company's activities; goodwill impairment;
changes in generally accepted accounting principles or their
interpretation; litigation; antitrust, intellectual property,
consumer and other issues; strikes; boycotts; increases in various
employee benefits and labor costs, specifically pension, medical and
health care costs incurred in the countries in which Ball has
operations; rates of return projected and earned on assets of the
company's defined benefit retirement plans; interest rates and level
of company debt; terrorist activities, war or catastrophic events;
and U.S. and foreign economic conditions.

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