Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has delivered key components to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for a laser ranging system designed to achieve greater accuracy in measuring changes in Earth’s ocean, groundwater and glaciers.
Ball’s laser frequency stabilization reference flight units for the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Follow-On spacecraft were shipped to JPL following environmental testing. The GRACE Follow-On mission is scheduled for launch as early as 2017. Ball’s flight units constitute a subsystem that is part of the high-precision Laser Ranging Interferometer, a secondary payload aboard the spacecraft.
Ball’s GRACE Follow-On effort advanced the state-of-the-art and proven technology that was developed as part of NASA’s Instrument Incubator Program (IIP). The IIP focuses on technologies that lead to future flight instruments which are smaller and require fewer resources and less time to build. Ball’s contribution to the mission builds on the company’s instrument expertise and small satellite tailoring experience.
NASA’s GRACE mission, with its twin satellites launched in 2002, is making detailed measurements of Earth’s gravity field and revolutionizing investigations about Earth’s water resources over land, ice and the ocean.
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. supports critical missions for national agencies such as the Department of Defense, NASA, NOAA and other U.S. government and commercial entities. The company develops and manufactures spacecraft, advanced instruments and sensors, components, data exploitation systems and RF solutions for strategic, tactical and scientific applications. For more information, visit www.ballaerospace.com/.
Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) supplies innovative, sustainable packaging solutions for beverage, food and household products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ 14,500 people worldwide and reported 2014 sales of $8.6 billion. For more information, visit www.ball.com, or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter.
