Ball Aerospace has secured a deal from Nasa to provide spacecraft operations support for Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite.

Launched in 2011, Suomi-NPP is a part of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) next-generation Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) constellation of polar-orbiting environmental satellites.

Discover B2B Marketing That Performs

Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.

Find out more

The project has also been supervised by Nasa.

As part of the newly awarded deal, Ball Aerospace will continue to provide engineering services to the Joint Polar Satellite System Flight Project.

In addition, Ball Aerospace will provide engineering services for NOAA’s Office of Satellite and Product Operations for the mission operations systems and subsystems, as well as the deactivation of the Suomi NPP satellite.

“The Suomi NPP satellite has significantly impacted everyday safety around the world, largely invisible to the general public and indispensable to the scientific communities."

Under the five-year long cost-plus fixed-fee contract, Ball Aerospace can also issue task orders with a minimum ordering value of $50,000 and maximum ordering value of approximately $9.5m.

GlobalData Strategic Intelligence

US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?

Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.

By GlobalData

Ball Aerospace civil space business unit vice-president and general manager Jim Oschmann said: “We are in a unique position to assist with essential sustaining engineering services and proud to have the opportunity to continue our role of providing critical spacecraft operations support to help Suomi NPP go beyond its original charter.

“The Suomi NPP satellite has significantly impacted everyday safety around the world, largely invisible to the general public and indispensable to the scientific communities at Nasa, NOAA and the US Department of Defence.”

The company is also currently building NOAA/Nasa’s JPSS-1 next-generation weather spacecraft, which is expected to be launched by this year.


Image: Rendering of Suomi NPP satellite. Photo: courtesy of Nasa.

Airport Technology Excellence Awards - Nominations Closed

Nominations are now closed for the Airport Technology Excellence Awards. A big thanks to all the organisations that entered – your response has been outstanding, showcasing exceptional innovation, leadership, and impact.

Excellence in Action
OPS1 by TADERA has won the 2025 Product Launch Award in the Safety and Efficiency category for transforming how airports manage operations and safety. Learn how this integrated, GIS driven platform simplifies inspections, maintenance, and SMS compliance while turning operational data into real time, actionable intelligence.

Discover the Impact