Anna Forrester
Ball Aerospace and Technologies‘Â Scripps NISTAR radiometer instrument will launch to space as part of the Deep Space Climate Observatory mission of NASA, the U.S. Air Force and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The instrument will support the DSCOVR program in measuring irradiance on the Earth’s surface to study the planet’s exchange of energy with the sun, Ball said Tuesday.
“After years of hard work we are looking forward to the Ball radiometer…Â along with the [CT633] star tracker finally having their day in the sun,” said Jim Oschmann, vice president and general manager of Ball’s civil space and technology business.
The company said it partnered with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to develop the radiometer based on Ball’s modular instrument controllers and NIST’s electrical-substitution technology.
SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 rocket will carry DSCOVR and Scripps NISTAR to space on Feb. 8.
