Ball Aerospace to supply imaging equipment for moon mission

BROOMFIELD — Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., a division of Broomfield-based Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL), was selected by the University of Central Florida to supply four imaging instruments for a lunar exploratory investigation.

The project was awarded by NASA under its Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) program.

The investigation will study the Gruithuisen Domes, an unexplored geological feature of the lunar surface. 

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“This investigation and the others within the PRISM program are one part of NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration efforts, which will include sending humans back to the lunar surface,” Makenzie Lystrup, vice president and general manager of Civil Space, Ball Aerospace, said in a written statement. “We are excited to be contributing to science studies that will help lay the groundwork for those missions and what eventually could be a sustained human presence on the Moon.”

The mission is scheduled for launch in 2026. Once on the moon, it will send a rover to study the mineralogical composition of the domes. 

“Not only do the Gruithuisen Domes morphologically standout from their surroundings, but it is also puzzling how silica-rich magmas could form domes like these on the Moon since similar magmas on Earth form in the presence of water and plate tectonics,” said Kerri Donaldson Hanna, principal investigator at the University of Central Florida.  

Ball Aerospace will provide four imaging instruments for the mission, two on the landing craft and two on the rover, the company said in a press statement. 

This project marks Ball Aerospace’s second contribution to the Artemis lunar exploration. Ball is building the Lunar Compact Infrared Imaging System instrument, which will be used to map mineral composition, temperature and other surface and sub-surface characteristics of the Moon for a mission expected to launch in late 2023.