INSTRUMENTS
GMI CALIPSO Collecting advanced precipitation The Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared measurements from space, the Global Pathfinder Satellite Observation Precipitation Measurement (GPM CALIPSO is dedicated to studying the Microwave Imager (GPIM is furthering impact that clouds and aerosols have on our understanding of Earth’s water and the Earth’s climate. CALIPSO’s active lidar energy cycles and improving our ability instrument scans the atmosphere with For more than 40 years, Ball Aerospace has designed and built innovative to forecast extreme weather events. green and infrared laser light and detects remote sensing instruments, spacecraft and systems that support GMI is one of two instruments aboard backscatter from clouds and aerosols. actionable environmental intelligence. From enabling more accurate the GPM observatory, a joint mission Originally designed for a life of three weather forecasts to delivering insightful observations of our planet, we between NASA and the Japan Aerospace years, scientists continue using data from provide decision makers the information they need to protect what matters Exploration Agency (JAXA. CALIPSO to construct 3D models of the most: you, your family and our nation. Ball designed, built and tested GMI and atmosphere that improve our ability to provided pre- and post-launch support predict future climate change. Credits (Top Image): NOAA; Bottom Image): USGS/NASA Landsat for the instrument. Designed for state- Ball built CALIPSO’s lidar and wide-field of-the-art accuracy, GMI has become camera instruments, the communications the calibration standard for on-orbit equipment and integrated the payload. microwave radiometers. CALIPSO was launched in 2006 as part of the ATrain. Since then, CALIPSO has traveled more than 1.6 billion miles and Images (Top to Bottom): GPIM; GPIM data; CALIPSO produced more than 90 terabytes of data.
ADVANCING EARTH SCIENCE
Ball is dedicated to advancing the future of Earth Science to solve important problems for the nation. We are currently developing and maturing various technologies that fill important data gaps and help to lower program costs. These technologies include:
Small Spacecraft Miniaturized Science Instruments Our flight-proven BCPSmall spacecraft offers a rapid Our close collaboration with the science community response for meeting mission and budget requirements. enables us to design systems that optimize science return We’ve built three spacecraft on this platform for a within platform and cost constraints. For example, we combined 14 years of on-orbit operations. built the Compact Infrared Radiometer in Space (CIRiS instrument for integration on a cubesat platform as part of Airborne Initiative NASA’s In-Space Validation of Earth Science Technologies Through our airborne initiative, we design, build and InVEST program. CIRiS aims to demonstrate and validate demonstrate new and innovative remote sensing the ability of miniaturized science instruments to effectively technologies from airborne platforms, providing the science deliver highly-calibrated, scientifically-significant data while community with new measurement capabilities for a variety also reducing overall costs. of applications, from vector winds and methane to soil moisture and sea surface temperature.
Ball Aerospace 3039394000 Fax: 3039396104 [email protected] • www.ball.com/aerospace Copyright 08/2021, Ball Aerospace D0531 SPACECRAFT INSTRUMENTS
Images (Left to Right): JPSS1; Hurricane Maria captured by Suomi-NPP; Suomi-NPP; CloudSat Images (Left to Right): TEMPO; OLI1; Antarctica captured by OLI1 Credit: USGS/NASA Landsat); OMPS2
Our line of flight-proven spacecraft - the Ball Configurable Platform (BCP are designed for flexible, cost-effective From air quality and precipitation to ozone and clouds, our reliable and affordable instruments are helping scientists track remote sensing applications. Built on a readily configurable design with standard payload interfaces, the BCP is ideally Earth’s weather and climate trends like never before. Spanning the electromagnetic spectrum, our instruments fly on both suited for a wide range of missions, from technology demonstrations to full operational programs. The combined BCP airborne and space-based platforms and support a wide-range of Earth-sensing missions. series has flown for more than an equivalent of 85 years.
JPSS1 SUOMINPP CLOUDSAT TEMPO & GEMS LANDSAT OMPS The Joint Polar Satellite System-1 The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Collecting the first global NASA’s Tropospheric Emission: The Landsat program, a series of OMPS measures the global distribution JPSS1, NOAA’s next-generation Partnership (Suomi-NPP mission has measurements of cloud properties, Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO satellites jointly managed by NASA and and vertical structure of Earth’s ozone polar orbiting weather satellite, collects served as the primary polar-orbiting the CloudSat mission has provided mission will revolutionize our the U.S. Geological Survey, provides layer, continuing the nation’s more than critical data for weather forecasting. spacecraft for NOAA’s operational scientists with never-before-seen understanding of air quality, providing the longest continuous space-based 40-year record of total-ozone and Data collected from JPSS1 (known weather forecasting mission since 3D perspectives of Earth’s clouds, space-based hourly measurements record of Earth’s surface unmatched in ozone-profile observations. OMPS is as NOAA20 increases the timeliness 2014, collecting critical data on Earth’s which are critical for understanding of major air pollutants across North quality, detail and coverage. currently flying aboard the JPSS1 and and accuracy of forecasts three to atmosphere, oceans and land surface. their effect on both weather and America for the first time. Ball built Ball is helping to continue this Suomi-NPP satellites. seven days in advance of severe Ball designed and built the Suomi-NPP climate. Launched in 2006 as part of TEMPO’s spectrometer and telescope record with the Operational Land Ball designed, built and tested weather events, enabling emergency spacecraft and OMPS instrument, NASA’s spacecraft constellation called using a two-axis scan mirror. TEMPO Imager (OLI, a multispectral imaging both OMPS instruments, as well as managers to make timely decisions to integrated all five of its instruments, the ATrain, CloudSat has gone well is the first Ball instrument to be instrument that enables better spatial supported instrument integration on protect lives and property. performed satellite-level testing and beyond its 2-year design life. hosted on a geostationary resolution and greater sensitivity to both satellites. As a result of Ball’s Ball designed and built the JPSS1 provided launch support. We are Ball built the CloudSat spacecraft, communications satellite. brightness and color than any previous success on OMPS, we received a sole- spacecraft and Ozone Mapping and currently under contract for continued as well as tested and integrated the In tandem with TEMPO, Ball built Landsat mission. We built the OLI1 source contract from NASA to build Profiler Suite instrument (OMPS, spacecraft operations. Cloud Profiling Radar payload built by the Geostationary Environmental for Landsat 8 and delivered OLI2 for OMPS instruments for all three of the integrated all five of the satellite’s the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS, Landsat 9. Additionally, we contributed next JPSS follow-on missions. instruments, performed satellite level and other hardware contributions from a joint development effort by Ball the cryocooler for the Thermal Infrared Ball has more than 40 years of testing and provided launch support. the Canadian Space Agency. and the Korea Aerospace Research Sensor-1 TIRS1 for Landsat 8 and experience developing ozone Institute (KARI, South Korea. delivered the TIRS2 cryocooler for monitoring instruments for NOAA and Launched in February 2020, GEMS Landsat 9. Ball is also designing and NASA. Ball built three Stratospheric is the Asian element of a global air prototyping next-generation land Aerosol and Gas Experiment III SAGE quality monitoring capability that imaging instruments for NASA to instruments. Measuring the vertical includes TEMPO. GEMS is the first help ensure a seamless extension of structure of gases in the atmosphere, UV-visible air quality spectrometer in Landsat’s 45-year uninterrupted data the SAGE instruments are critical to geostationary orbit. record well into the future. the study of ozone. In addition, Ball built nine Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Radiometers, which helped to discover the ozone hole above Antarctica in 1987.