February 20, 2020

Ball Aerospace launches pollution monitoring equipment

BOULDER — Air pollution over the Korean peninsula and the Asia-Pacific region will soon be monitored for the first time from space using a new piece of equipment manufactured by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. and launched into orbit Tuesday.

The geostationary environment monitoring spectrometer was jointly developed by Ball Aerospace and Korea Aerospace Research Institute under the leadership of Ball. The device was integrated onto the Korean GEO-KOMPSAT-2B satellite.

Once operational in space, the spectrometer will be the first air quality sensor in geostationary orbit.

SPONSORED CONTENT

Solar Operations and Maintenance for Commercial Properties

One key qualification to consider when selecting a solar partner to install your system is whether they have an Operations and Maintenance (O&M) or service department. Since solar is a long-term asset with an expected lifecycle of 30 plus years, ongoing O&M should be considered up front. A trusted O&M partner will maximize your system’s energy output and therefor the return on your investment.

“GEMS is a result of more than 30 years of innovation in advanced spectrometers at Ball Aerospace,” Dr. Makenzie Lystrup, vice president and general manager of the Civil Space division at Ball Aerospace, said in a written statement. “Data from GEMS will enable KARI’s mission to assess and forecast air pollution by identifying sources and distribution of pollutants in the atmosphere.”

Ball Aerospace led GEMS development under a contract with KARI for the National Institute of Environmental Research in the Ministry of Environment of South Korea. GEMS will make hourly measurements of key constituents that make up air pollution, including ozone and nitrogen dioxide, which will improve early warnings for potentially dangerous pollution events, Ball said.

GEMS is one part of a global air quality monitoring constellation of geostationary satellites that will include NASA’s Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution spectrometer. Ball completed TEMPO in September 2018 for NASA Langley Research Center and Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. TEMPO is scheduled to launch in 2022.

 

© BizWest Media LLC

 

Christopher Wood
Christopher Wood is editor and publisher of BizWest, a regional business journal covering Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer and Weld counties. Wood co-founded the Northern Colorado Business Report in 1995 and served as publisher of the Boulder County Business Report until the two publications were merged to form BizWest in 2014. From 1990 to 1995, Wood served as reporter and managing editor of the Denver Business Journal. He is a Marine Corps veteran and a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder. He has won numerous awards from the Colorado Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists and the Alliance of Area Business Publishers.
Sign up for BizWest Daily Alerts