Agility to innovate, Strength to deliver

Building the Tools ofDISCOVERY

Ball Aerospace develops critical technologies for planetary, astronomical and astrophysical missions. Our scientific and engineering capabilities advance technology for the future of space science and exploration.

Collaborating with Principal InvestigatorsBall’s science roots are deep. The company was founded by University of Colorado physicists, developing key technologies for accurately pointing sounding rockets. Since 1956, the focus on enabling science has been a guiding force in the company’s development. In fact, Ball has played a role in all of NASA’s Great Observatories and has become a key player in our nation’s most complex space telescope work.

Ball’s talented scientists and engineers work collaboratively with science teams on instruments, spacecraft and research projects to achieve science mission objectives. They offer decades of expertise in solving challenges unique to space environments.

The company’s innovative and collaborative culture and reputation for meeting sophisticated technological challenges has made it “the Scientists’ Aerospace Company.”

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SpitzerBall provided the Cryogenic Telescope Assembly (CTA) and two of the three science instruments for NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope: the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) and the Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS). The detectors used in these instruments are up to 1,000 times more sensitive than any previously deployed infrared-centered missions. Since its launch in 2003, the observatory’s infrared sensors have uncovered a hidden universe teeming with embryonic stars, planet-forming disks and previously unknown galaxies.

HiRISEBall designed a high-resolution camera, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), for NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) mission. Operated by the University of Arizona, HiRISE is the largest telescopic camera ever sent into orbit around another planet. The MRO mission was launched in 2005 and reached Mars in early 2006. HiRISE has produced thousands of dramatic images of the Martian surface since 2006.

Ralph As part of NASA’s New Horizons mission, the Ball-built Ralph instrument, with its high-resolution visible imager and infrared spectrometer, provides information from the edge of our solar system with the first reconnaissance of Pluto and its moon, Charon. The mission will answer basic questions about surface properties of these bodies, including the geology, interior makeup and atmospheres. The mission launched in 2006 and will fly by Pluto and Charon in July 2015.

Ralph

Spitzer

HiRISE

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. • 1600 Commerce St. • Boulder, CO 80301 • 303-939-6100 • Fax: 303-939-6104 info@ball.com • www.ballaerospace.com

James Webb Space TelescopeBall is providing the optical telescope for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The Webb will be the next premier space observatory, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide.

As principal subcontractor for Northrop Grumman, Ball is leading the development, design, manufacture, integration and test of the infrared telescope’s sophisticated mirror system. This system includes 18 1.3-meter hexagonal mirror segments to comprise the 6.5-meter primary mirror, making it the largest mirror ever flown in space. In addition to the primary mirror, Ball is responsible for Webb’s secondary, tertiary and fine-steering mirror assemblies.

SentinelThe Sentinel mission has one primary goal: create the first comprehensive and dynamic map of the inner solar system, cataloging 90 percent of large near-Earth asteroids. This data will identify objects that are potentially hazardous to human life and provide early warning to protect Earth from impact. The Sentinel mission is led by the B612 Foundation, a nonprofit group of scientists and explorers whose goal is to build, launch and operate the first privately-funded deep space mission. Ball will design and build the spacecraft’s Sentinel Infrared (IR) Space Telescope, a space-based telescope with a 20-inch diameter mirror.

Kepler Ball is the prime contractor for NASA’s Discovery-class Kepler mission. Since its launch in 2009, Kepler has revolutionized our understanding of exoplanets as it searches for Earth-like planets. Ball built the spacecraft and photometer and supports mission operations. The photometer continuously measures the brightness of 150,000 stars, allowing it to detect changes in a star’s brightness caused by a passing planet.

The primary data collection mission was successfully completed in 2012. Kepler scientists continue their quest to find smaller, long-period planets in the mountain of data that Kepler produced. The Kepler results will be used by the astronomical community for years as the exoplanet field moves from planet discovery into the characterization of the mysterious worlds that Kepler has uncovered.

WISEBall designed and built the spacecraft for NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission. Launched in December 2009, WISE mapped the entire sky with 500 times more sensitivity than previous infrared missions. Based on the company’s BCP 300 spacecraft, WISE demonstrated the value and effectiveness of this low-cost remote sensing bus capability.

Hubble Space Telescope InstrumentsBall designed and built a total of seven science instruments flown on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. These instruments include: Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS); Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS); Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS); and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).

Ball also built the Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR), known as the “eyeglasses for the Hubble,” which restored the telescope’s imaging capability in 1993. Most recently, the technologically advanced instruments Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) were delivered to Hubble during Servicing Mission 4 to enhance its scientific capabilities and extend its operational life.

EPOXI/Deep ImpactBall designed and built the cutting-edge, dual-spacecraft system for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which includes the Flyby and Impactor spacecrafts and three high-resolution cameras that captured the Deep Impact collision with comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005 and imaged comet Hartley 2 on Nov. 4, 2010. This is the first time that two comets have been imaged by the same spacecraft and by instruments with the same spatial resolution. The follow-on EPOXI mission is actually two missions: the first, EPOch, collected data on extrasolar planets and the second, DIXI, imaged comet Hartley 2.

James Webb Space Telescope

Sentinel

Kepler Deep Impact/EPOXI

WISE

Cosmic Origins Spectrograph

Advanced Camera for Surveys