Ball Aerospace enters final stages of building Space Force's Next-Gen Operational Weather Satellite

Ball Aerospace completed the spacecraft bus for the Weather System Follow-on-Microwave (WSF-M) satellite, the U.S. Space Force's next-generation operational environmental satellite system. Ball also finalized environmental testing on the Microwave Imager (MWI) instrument and has started final space vehicle assembly, integration and testing.

Upon delivery, WSF-M will provide mission data to Department of Defense's (DoD) environmental prediction systems that support all warfighter domains. In addition, it will broadcast real-time, actionable environmental intelligence to on-going military operations across the globe.

"The nearly simultaneous completion of the spacecraft bus and instrument testing mark a significant milestone for the WSF-M program," said, Hope Damphousse, vice president, Strategic Operations, Ball Aerospace. "We are moving forward with spacecraft integration of the MWI sensor, along with a government-furnished Energetic Charged Particle (ECP) sensor, which will be followed by a suite of space vehicle performance and environmental tests."