The U.S. Air Force has chosen Ball Aerospace to develop an open-source framework for the Space and Missile Systems Center to process satellite-based intelligence data about foreign missile threats. Ball Aerospace said Tuesday USAF plans to use the Mission Data Processing Application Framework as a data collection testbed under the Future …
Read More »Ball Aerospace Recognized for Contribution to NASA Kepler’s Continued Use
NASA‘s Ames Research Center has given the Group Achievement Award to Ball Aerospace in recognition of the company’s solar pressure approach that helped the Kepler Space Telescope continue operating. The company said Wednesday it developed an approach that directed Kepler observatory spacecraft to use solar pressure and thrusters for control …
Read More »Lockheed Unveils Two Potential Suppliers of USAF Missile Warning Satellite Payload
Raytheon and a team composed of Northrop Grumman and Ball Aerospace have been selected develop mission payloads for potential integration into a missile warning satellite Lockheed Martin will build for the U.S. Air Force. Lockheed said Thursday it will facilitate the payload development competition, which covers development and critical design review phases, …
Read More »NASA Tests Communications Capability of Webb Observatory’s Spacecraft, Telescope Components
NASA has worked with Northrop Grumman and Ball Aerospace to assess the capability of the James Webb Space Telescope’s two main components to communicate with each other. Engineers and technicians used ground wires to temporarily connect the spacecraft to the telescope as part of the optional “risk reduction” test, NASA …
Read More »Ball Aerospace Licenses Camera Tech for Defense, Space Applications
Argo AI has granted Ball Aerospace exclusive rights to manufacture light detection and ranging camera systems for potential use in government, space and defense missions. Ball Aerospace said Monday it will produce Geiger-mode avalanche photodiode LiDAR technology intended to function as a key component of non-conventional imaging and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms. The …
Read More »Ball Aerospace-Built Space Telescope Continues Data Transmission as Fuel Runs Low
NASA obtained data from its latest observation campaign of the Ball Aerospace-built Kepler spacecraft, despite the observatory having only a little amount of fuel onboard. The space agency said Friday it put the space telescope on hibernation mode after NASA found that the craft’s tank was running on low fuel. Kepler was …
Read More »Ball Aerospace Helps NASA Review Astrophysics Observatory Design
Ball Aerospace has helped NASA complete the preliminary design review of a space-based astrophysics observatory designed to measure cosmic X-ray polarization. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center collaborated with Ball, the Italian space agency and other industry partners on the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer PDR effort at a facility in Boulder, Colo., the company said Wednesday. IXPE …
Read More »Teledyne Subsidiary to Develop IR Sensor Chip for NASA’s WFIRST Project
A Teledyne Technologies subsidiary has received a $23 million contract from NASA to develop a sensor technology for integration into a space observatory designed to examine the near-infrared sky. Teledyne Scientific & Imaging will supply 72 short wave infrared sensor chip assembly devices for the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope mission and help the …
Read More »NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System Reaches Operational Status
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s Joint Polar Satellite System, designed to support weather forecasting, has achieved operational status after completing a series of tests. Known as JPSS-1 before it reached orbit, the NOAA-20 satellite features multiple instruments built to gather data on Earth’s atmosphere, land and waters, the agency said Wednesday. The Ball …
Read More »Ball Aerospace to Produce Optical Instrument for NASA’s Infrared Space Observatory
NASA has selected Ball Aerospace to produce an optical technology for a new space observatory designed to help scientists conduct research into dark energy, exoplanets and infrared astrophysics. The company said Wednesday it will build the Optical Mechanical Assembly for the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope and support WFI integration and test efforts. Jim Oschmann, …
Read More »Ball Aerospace Completes Second Testbed Assessment Under DARPA’s Hallmark Program
Ball Aerospace has completed the second of five assessments on a space system testing platform being developed for the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The company said Thursday it demonstrated the open and development approach for the Space Evaluation and Analysis Capability testbed through DARPA’s Hallmark program. “To …
Read More »Ball Aerospace turns over NOAA-20 weather satellite to NASA
Ball Aerospace has handed over the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s first Joint Polar Satellite System to NASA after the completion of a satellite acceptance review. The company said Thursday the acceptance review showed that the JPSS-1 weather satellite, which now operates as NOAA-20, satisfied on-orbit requirements. Ball Aerospace-built NOAA-20 launched …
Read More »Northrop’s Data-Gathering Instruments Activated on NOAA Weather Satellite
Two Northrop Grumman-built instruments onboard a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather satellite have been activated to perform post-launch data collection. The initial set of data from Northrop’s Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder and Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System Flight Model 6 will aid startup and checkout tests before NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite …
Read More »Ball Aerospace to Provide Antenna Systems for BAE Systems’ Navy Network Effort
BAE Systems has selected Ball Aerospace to provide multi-beam phased array antenna systems in support of the former’s contractual effort to build a Network Tactical Common Data Link System for the U.S. Navy. A Ball-made Ku-band phased array antenna suite will be used as components for the NTCDL system that is being designed to support high-bandwidth communications …
Read More »NASA Receives Ball Aerospace-Built Cryocooler for Landsat 9 Satellite Instrument
Ball Aerospace has built and delivered a flight cryocooler for the thermal sensor instrument of an Earth observation satellite that NASA aims to launch in December 2020. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland received the Landsat 9 Thermal Infrared Sensor-2 cryocooler ahead of a scheduled instrument integration and test, Ball Aerospace said Wednesday. The cryocooler is …
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