SIOUX FALLS, S.D., Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Raven Industries,
Inc. (Nasdaq: RAVN)
In its annual scientific campaign to McMurdo Station in Antarctica, the
NASA Balloon Program has established a new record by simultaneously flying
three scientific payloads in the stratosphere around the Antarctic
continent. As of Tuesday morning, January 15th, the three balloons have
provided over 1,700 hours of combined scientific observation time for the
13,000 pounds of scientific equipment. All three of the balloons were
designed and manufactured at the Aerospace Products facility of Aerostar
International, Inc. in Sulphur Springs, Texas.
The annual balloon launching campaign is managed and operated by NASA's
Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas. "The operations
support for three balloons in the air at one time, and using the finest
balloon vehicle made for this kind of cutting-edge scientific research is a
major achievement," said Dr. Vernon Jones, senior scientist for suborbital
research at NASA headquarters.
All of these observations are not possible with ground based
instruments. The only way to make them is to carry the instruments above
the obscuring layers of the Earth's atmosphere. The NASA Balloon Program
uses Aerostar balloons to provide scientists with platforms at near space
altitudes at a fraction of the cost of orbital missions. "To date, we have
accumulated 60 days of total flight time with more to come. The performance
of the Aerostar balloons has been outstanding," said Danny Ball, Site
Manager of the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility. "The scientists are
elated with the altitude profiles on all three. It's clear that Aerostar's
commitment to quality is paying dividends to the science community. These
balloons are absolutely perfect."
Aerostar's support for high altitude balloon research dates back to the
1950s. "We take a tremendous amount of pride in the work we do here. It's
not easy to fabricate a balloon with thirty plus acres of film that can fly
for a month with no leaks," said Mike Smith, Senior Aerospace Engineer at
Aerostar. "The reliability of our balloons speaks for itself," said Mike
Zimmerman, Production Manager, "from engineering through production, we
acknowledge that we are taking part in making important contributions to
science."
The giant helium balloons have a volume of forty million cubic feet,
four hundred times that of a typical hot air balloon, or roughly the size
of the Houston Astrodome. They are capable of carrying a six thousand pound
payload to 130,000 feet (24.6 miles) above sea level. At that altitude, the
balloons are above 99.5% of the atmosphere and the scientific instruments
have an unobstructed view of space.
The payloads taking advantage of this technology were launched Dec. 19
- 26 from McMurdo and have varied objectives. The first is the University
of Maryland's Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM) experiment, the second
is the Balloon borne Experiment with a Superconducting Spectrometer (BESS)
developed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. and the
third is Japan's High Energy Accelerator Center, Tsukuba, Japan, and
Louisiana State University's Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC).
ATIC and CREAM are making precise measurements of high energy cosmic rays
and BESS is searching for the presence of small amounts of antimatter in
space. All three will provide data in fundamental physics that will improve
our understanding of the structure of the universe.
About Aerostar International:
Aerostar International, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Raven
Industries (Nasdaq: RAVN), is a U.S. manufacturer providing Aerospace
Products, Military Products, Tethered Aerostats, Protective Wear and Custom
Inflatables to various markets.
Further information is available at http://www.aerostar.com, the
company's website.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including
statements regarding the expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies
regarding the future. Without limiting the foregoing, the words
"anticipates," "believes," "expects," "intends," "may," "plans" and similar
expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The
company intends that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe
harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Although
the company believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking
statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there is no assurance these
assumptions are correct or that these expectations will be achieved.
Assumptions involve important risks and uncertainties that could
significantly affect results in the future. These risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to, those relating to weather conditions,
which could affect some of the company's primary markets, such as
agriculture and construction; or changes in competition, raw material
availability, technology or relationships with the company's largest
customers -- any of which could adversely affect any of the company's
product lines, as well as other risks described in Raven's 10-K under Item
1A. This list is not exhaustive, and the company does not have an
obligation to revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances after the date these statements are made.
SOURCE Raven Industries, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.ravenind.com
CONTACT:
Mark West, President, +1-605-331-3500, or
Mike Smith, Sr. Aerospace Engineer, +1-903-885-0728, or Danny
Ball, CSBF Site Manager, +1-903-723-8011, all of Aerostar
International, Inc.; or Media Inquiries, Tim Grace of Financial
Relations Board, +1-312-640-6667, for Raven Industries, Inc.
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