# Ball Aerospace (BAE Systems Space)
*commercial . companies*

Boulder/Broomfield, Colorado-based aerospace technology company, now operating as BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems following acquisition by BAE Systems (completed February 16, 2024, $5.6 billion). Founded 1956 as Ball Brothers Research Corporation. Prime contractor for NASA EO instruments including CALIOP lidar on CALIPSO, OLI and OLI-2 imagers on Landsat 8 and 9, GMI microwave imager on GPM, and GeoXO Sounder instrument.

## Specifications
- **country**: USA
- **operator domains**: ["baesystems.com"]
- **entity type**: company
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-10
- **verified by**: operator
- **claim status**: unclaimed
- **attributes**: {"kind":"commercial","country":"USA","operator_domains":"[\"baesystems.com\"]","description":"Boulder/Broomfield, Colorado-based aerospace technology company, now operating as BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems following acquisition by BAE Systems (completed February 16, 2024, $5.6 billion). Founded 1956 as Ball Brothers Research Corporation. Prime contractor for NASA EO instruments including CALIOP lidar on CALIPSO, OLI and OLI-2 imagers on Landsat 8 and 9, GMI microwave imager on GPM, and GeoXO Sounder instrument."}

## Editorial
Founded in 1956 as Ball Brothers Research Corporation in Boulder and Broomfield, Colorado, Ball Aerospace operated as a subsidiary of Ball Corporation until February 16, 2024, when BAE Systems completed its acquisition for $5.55 billion gross proceeds. [^sec-ball-8k-2023][^bae-acquisition-press-2024] The organisation now operates as BAE Systems Space and Mission Systems.

Ball Aerospace served as prime contractor for several NASA Earth observation instruments, including the CALIOP lidar on the CALIPSO cloud and aerosol mission, [^ball-caliop-milestone] the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8, and the OLI-2 on Landsat 9. [^nasa-landsat9-oli2] It also built the GMI (Global Precipitation Measurement Microwave Imager) for the GPM core satellite, and prior to the acquisition was selected to develop the sounder instrument for NOAA's GeoXO programme.

## Sources
- [sec-ball-8k-2023] | Ball Corporation Form 8-K: Agreement to sell Ball Aerospace to BAE Systems | https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000009389/000000938923000028/ball-20230817xex99.htm | tier=legal-text | accessed=2026-06-10
- [bae-acquisition-press-2024] | BAE Systems Signs Agreement to Acquire Ball Aerospace | https://www.baesystems.com/en-us/article/bae-systems-signs-agreement-to-acquire-ball-aerospace | tier=operator-press | accessed=2026-06-10
- [ball-caliop-milestone] | Ball Aerospace CALIPSO Lidar Passes One Billionth Milestone | https://www.ball.com/newswire/article/123397/ball-aerospaces-calipso-lidar-passes-one-billionth-milestone | tier=operator-press | accessed=2026-06-10
- [nasa-landsat9-oli2] | Ball Aerospace Delivers Earth Science Instrument for Landsat 9 | https://investors.ball.com/news-and-presentations/news-releases/news-releases-details/2019/Ball-Aerospace-Delivers-Earth-Science-Instrument-for-Landsat-9/default.aspx | tier=operator-press | accessed=2026-06-10
- [wiki-ball-aerospace] | Ball Aerospace & Technologies - Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_Aerospace_%26_Technologies | tier=community | accessed=2026-06-10

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/companies/ball-aerospace
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