Raven Subsidiary Aerostar International Announces NASA Record Achieved With Aerostar...

Raven Subsidiary Aerostar International Announces NASA Record Achieved With
Aerostar Stratospheric Balloons

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.

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.