Ball Aerospace To Build Next Medium-Class Explorer Missions

SPACE SCOPES

SPACER

Boulder - Apr 17, 2003
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has been selected by NASA as a team member to develop the Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). WISE is a four-channel, super-cooled infrared telescope designed to provide a full sky, infrared map that will help the James Web Space Telescope identify which objects to observe following its scheduled launch in 2010.

Under contract to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ball Aerospace will build the spacecraft and conduct mission operations for the WISE program. A final decision to proceed to flight development on WISE will be made in 2004, with a launch anticipated in 2008.

The Ball-built spacecraft will be based on the company's RS300 spacecraft, a family of small, low-cost remote-sensing buses. The spacecraft, which weighs less than 250 pounds, is an offshoot of Ball Aerospace's Deep Impact flight system. Ball Aerospace has also been selected to build the NEXTSat spacecraft for the Orbital Express Advanced Technology Program using the RS300.

"The WISE team has been working on the development of this mission for four years," said Joan Howard, WISE program manager for Ball Aerospace. "The telescope's ability to survey the entire sky, with 1,000 times more sensitivity than previous infrared missions, will provide information to astronomers and the public that will be used for decades to come."

WISE is part of NASA's Explorer Program designed to provide frequent, low-cost access to space for physics and astronomy missions with small to mid-sized spacecraft. In addition to Ball Aerospace, other team members include Utah State University's Space Dynamics Laboratory, Rockwell International, Lockheed Martin, and SSG Corp. Dr. Edward Wright of the University of California, Los Angeles, is the Principal Investigator for WISE.

TECH SPACE

Cryogenic Telescope Ready For Launch

Boulder - Apr 08, 2003
The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), carrying the Ball Aerospace cryogenic telescope assembly and two Ball-built science instruments, is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on April 18. SIRTF is the fourth and final mission in NASA's Great Observatories series. Ball Aerospace has had a significant role on all four of the Great Observatories.

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