Ball Aerospace has supported the completion of the preliminary design review (PDR) for NASA's Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx), the company reported on Wednesday.
"This latest program milestone is an important step forward in realizing NASA's mission to peer into the history of the universe," said Dr. Makenzie Lystrup, vice president and general manager, Civil Space, Ball Aerospace.
Ball has been charged with building the spacecraft and telescope. The company is also responsible for system integration and test, support for integration of the spacecraft onto a launch vehicle and commissioning of the spacecraft after launch.
The SPHEREx bus will be based on the Ball Configurable Platform (BCP) spacecraft. Ball’s platform has been designed for flexible, cost-effective applications. It will leverage a common spacecraft bus and standard payload interfaces to reduce cost, streamline payload accommodation and minimize delivery time.
With PDR complete, the SPHEREx project will enter critical design review to complete the Key Decision Point C process in coordination with NASA, prior to beginning the implementation phase.
"Ball has a long heritage of delivering new and innovative solutions for tomorrow's science questions, partnering with our customers and the science community to provide science at any scale," Lystrup added.
About Ball Corporation
Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) supplies innovative, sustainable aluminum packaging solutions for beverage, personal care 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 more than 18,300 people worldwide and reported 2019 net sales of $11.5 billion.
