Ball Aerospace & Technologies
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
Company type | Wholly owned subsidiary of Ball Corporation |
---|---|
Industry | Spacecraft, defense, scientific instruments |
Founded | 1956 |
Defunct | 16 February 2024 |
Headquarters | Broomfield, Colorado |
Key people | Dave Kaufman - President |
Owner | Ball Corporation |
Website | www.BallAerospace.com |
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. is an American manufacturer of spacecraft, components and instruments for national defense, civil space and commercial space applications. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ball Corporation (NYSE: BALL), with primary offices in Boulder, Colorado, and facilities in Broomfield and Westminster in Colorado, with smaller offices in New Mexico, Ohio, northern Virginia, Missouri and Maryland.
Ball Aerospace began building pointing controls for military rockets in 1956 (the aerospace part of the Ball Corporation was then known as Ball Brothers Research Corporation) and later won a contract to build some of NASA's first spacecraft, the Orbiting Solar Observatory satellites. The company has been responsible for numerous technological and scientific projects and continues to provide aerospace technology to NASA and related industries.
Other products and services for the aerospace industry include lubricants, optical systems, star trackers and antennas. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Ball Corporation, Ball Aerospace was cited in 2014 as the 88th largest defense contractor in the world.[1] Both parent and subsidiary headquarters are co-located in Broomfield, Colorado.
Participating projects
- The Orbital Express[2] autonomous satellite servicing mission
- The WorldView-2 Earth observation satellite.[3]
- AEROS (satellite)[4]
- Ralph (New Horizons instrument)[5]
- Chandra X-ray Observatory aspect camera (star tracker) and SIM (science instrument module)[6]
- Hubble Space Telescope: seven science instruments (COS, WFC3, ACS, NICMOS, STIS, COSTAR, and GHRS), two star trackers, five major equipment subsystems, and custom tools to support service missions[7]
- James Webb Space Telescope optical mirror system[8]
References
- ^ "Defense News Top 100". Defense News Research. 2014.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Orbital Express Archived June 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ DigitalGlobe announces Ball building WorldView 2 satellite
- ^ Yenne, Bill (1985). The Encyclopedia of US Spacecraft. Exeter Books (A Bison Book), New York. ISBN 0-671-07580-2.p.12 AEROS
- ^ Ball Aerospace - New Horizons/Ralph
- ^ Ball Aerospace - Chandra X-ray Observatory
- ^ Ball Aerospace - Hubble Space Telescope
- ^ Ball Aerospace - Webb Space Telescope
External links
- Ball Corporation
- Aerospace companies of the United States
- Defense companies of the United States
- Spacecraft manufacturers
- Manufacturing companies based in Colorado
- Companies based in Boulder, Colorado
- Companies based in Broomfield, Colorado
- Manufacturing companies established in 1956
- 1956 establishments in Colorado
- Science and technology in Colorado
- American companies established in 1956