Ball Aerospace to ship WISE spacecraft

BOULDER, Colo., 12 Aug. 2009. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has completed a comprehensive pre-shipment review for NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite. The pre-shipment review was completed on August 4, following assembly and performance testing.

Ball Aerospace engineers have packed the satellite into a shipping container for delivery in mid-August to California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. WISE is scheduled to launch in December 2009 aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket into an Earth orbit.

Ball Aerospace personnel built the WISE spacecraft, integrated the WISE infrared cryogenic science instrument, and performed testing requirements.

During the seven-month mission, WISE will survey entire sky at infrared wavelengths to collect data and catalog hundreds of millions of objects.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages WISE for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Ned Wright of UCLA is the WISE Principal Investigator.