For more than 50 years, Ball Aerospace has worked behind-the-scenes in support of scientists in the Astrophysics, Planetary, Earth Science and Solar communities. The company supports scientists through all phases of mission development - from mission concept development to technology demonstration to data delivery – enabling observations that have never been done before and in many cases were thought to be impossible.

Our science roots are deep. Ball Aerospace was founded by physicists from the University of Colorado who developed key technologies for accurately pointing sounding rockets. Since 1956, the focus on enabling science has been a guiding force in the company’s development. Many of our talented employees are scientist/engineers who understand science and work collaboratively with science teams to design, build and test instruments and spacecraft to achieve science objectives. They offer decades of expertise in solving challenges unique to space environments. They are also immensely adept at resolving the real-time issues that are come up in any complex technology development.

The company’s innovative and collaborative culture and reputation for meeting sophisticated technological challenges has made it “the Scientists’ Aerospace Company.” Deeply rooted in academia since it’s founding, Ball Aerospace is uniquely qualified and focused on the purpose behind the missions it enables – getting the most science possible with the resources available.

For the James Webb Space Telescope we are applying our expertise in cryogenics to enable the infrared telescope, the mirrors and actuators to function at temperatures as low as –400 degrees Fahrenheit (33 K). To enable the level of precision required for the multiple JWST mirror segments to act as a single mirror, we developed high-precision cryogenic actuators, and working with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, we developed wavefront sensing and control techniques to align the 18 mirror segments to an accuracy of <20 nanometers. These technology developments are just a few examples of how Ball Aerospace can apply technology and to achieve even the most challenging science requirements.

For the recently launched Kepler mission the company designed and built the largest telescope NASA has ever flown in space. Kepler features a 1.45 meter diameter mirror and an advanced focal plane with 42 CCDs with a total of 95 million pixels and a physical size of 14 inches x 14 inches covering over 100 square degrees. Ball Aerospace continues to lead the way with many important science missions, including the final servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope and the Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has been one of the most productive scientific instruments ever fielded, with more than 6,000 publications to date in referred journals. Ball Aerospace has helped to enable these scientific discoveries, from COSTAR that corrected the telescope’s flawed optics to the new instruments intalled during the 2009 Servicing Mission 4-- Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and Widefield Camera 3. Now, all of Hubble’s main instruments are Ball-built. Over the course of the Hubble program, Ball has developed seven instruments for the telescope.

These new missions build on a fifty year legacy of enabling many scientific ‘firsts.’ From the first all-sky survey in the infrared to the confirmation of the ozone hole, Ball Aerospace’s legacy is rooted in the ability to make what is thought to be technically impossible, possible.

For Ball Aerospace, the science is paramount, and our focus is and will always be creating the tools of discovery for the betterment of humanity.