The conference center, at 4815 Bradford Drive, is part of Ball’s Bradford facility in the Cummings Research Park. The BCC will offer convenient access for local government representatives to the subcontractor community. Ball will also use the location to train and familiarize customers and partners with Ball’s successful, innovation-based culture and business approaches. The facility’s audio-visual and communication capabilities will facilitate training and provide ample space for support activities.

Ball Aerospace secured office space in Huntsville earlier this year as the company pursued the contract to provide integration and production support to NASA’s Ares I Instrument Unit Avionics (IUA). Ball Aerospace expects to have a team of approximately 65 employees in the Huntsville area by the end of the first quarter in 2008, following the successful selection for the contract by NASA.

Vice President for Exploration Systems, Bill Townsend, is leading Ball’s overall efforts in Huntsville, with the Ares IUA program to be managed by Robert Seto. The Ball Aerospace team for the Ares I IUA includes subcontractors Hamilton Sundstrand and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. In addition to identifying Huntsville facilities from which to execute the contract, Team Ball has made major investments to successfully meet the requirements of the IUA contract. These investments will enable Team Ball to commence performance immediately upon contract award.

“We are ready on day one of the contract to offer the team’s best performance in helping NASA achieve its ambitious exploration goals,” said Townsend.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., headquartered in Boulder, Colo., provides critical mission support to the Department of Defense, NASA, NOAA and other U.S. government organizations and commercial entities. The company develops and manufactures space systems, including spacecraft, advanced instruments and sensors, components; and offers data exploitation systems and RF solutions for strategic, tactical and scientific applications. Over the past 50 years, Ball Aerospace has been responsible for numerous technological and scientific “firsts” and acts as a technology innovator for the aerospace market.