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Ball Aerospace, a BAE Systems subsidiary founded in 1956, designs spacecraft, instruments, and sensors for defense, civil, and commercial missions, including the James Webb Space Telescope.
ACTIVEFormerly Ball Aerospace, BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems is the Colorado-based sector of BAE Systems, Inc. that builds spacecraft, instruments, sensors and ground systems for national defense, civil and commercial space; as Ball Aerospace it built the optical technology for the James Webb Space Telescope.
Formerly Ball Aerospace, BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems is the Colorado-based sector of BAE Systems, Inc. that builds spacecraft, instruments, sensors and ground systems for national defense, civil and commercial space; as Ball Aerospace it built the optical technology for the James Webb Space Telescope.
Not scored The Space Score is a 0 to 1000 snapshot of a space company's size and activity, relative to the other companies we track. It combines size (headcount, market value and revenue, 30%), U.S. federal space contracts (20%), equity raised (15%), momentum (15%) and, for launch companies, orbital launches (20%), so it leans heavily on size. It is descriptive: not a forecast, a rating or investment advice.
Acquired by BAE Systems in February 2024 and now operates as BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems. Its profile and federal-award search still use the retired name, so its inputs no longer describe the business.
Inputs measured 2026-10-20 (UTC) · methodology v6 · Who is scored, and why
Sources: Founded, Headquarters, CEO, Employees, Parent, Legal name
For information only, not investment advice. SpaceNexus is not a registered investment adviser, broker or dealer, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. Data may be delayed, estimated or incomplete; check the source before acting. Full disclaimer
No private round on record. Debt, grants, state capital, owner funding and acquisitions are listed under Funding history by class and not added in.
Checking for a discussion…
Compiled Oct 20, 2026 from 4 public records. Every figure links the record it comes from.
Space federal awards
57 awards, $2.88B obligated
Awards with activity since Oct 1, 2018, as searched Sep 24, 2026. Awarded Nov 15, 1999 to Apr 29, 2026; most from NASA (54 awards)
Counts awards the government's own product code or programme title marks as space work, or the space research industry code; the satellite-telecoms industry code counts only together with a space agency, office or a space word in the award's own description. Obligated dollars, not ceilings; umbrella contracts (IDVs) are left out because their orders are counted one by one. Amounts as USAspending reported them on Sep 24, 2026.
Source: USAspending.gov recipient profile (all awards, not only space)
Latest award Apr 29, 2026
Latest space award
$100K from DoD
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT MINIMUM GUARANTEE
Source: USAspending.gov award record
Awarded Apr 29, 2026
Satellites built
43 payloads launched, 17 in orbit
Latest: WSF-M SV1
Payloads GCAT lists with this organisation as manufacturer. Counted under GCAT organisation code BALL. Catalogue updated Sep 24, 2026.
Source: GCAT satellite catalogue
Latest launch Apr 11, 2024
Department of Defense
3 space awards, $535.0M obligated
USAspending.gov award record, Apr 29, 2026
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
54 space awards, $2.34B obligated
USAspending.gov award record, Apr 14, 2026
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Owns 13 satellites it built (latest NOAA-20)
GCAT satellite catalogue, Nov 18, 2017
DigitalGlobe
Owns 3 satellites it built (latest WorldView-3)
Satellite data from GCAT (J. McDowell, planet4589.org/space/gcat), CC BY 4.0.
APA
SpaceNexus. (2026, October 20). Ball Aerospace: Company dossier [Data set]. Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://spacenexus.us/company-profiles/ball-aerospace
Chicago
SpaceNexus. "Ball Aerospace: Company dossier." Data as of October 20, 2026. Accessed October 20, 2026. https://spacenexus.us/company-profiles/ball-aerospace.
BibTeX
@misc{spacenexus_ballaerospace_2026,
author = {{SpaceNexus}},
title = {{Ball Aerospace}: Company dossier},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
howpublished = {\url{https://spacenexus.us/company-profiles/ball-aerospace}},
url = {https://spacenexus.us/company-profiles/ball-aerospace},
urldate = {2026-10-20},
note = {Data as of 2026-10-20; each fact links its primary source}
}GCAT satellite catalogue, Aug 13, 2014
US Air Force Space and Missile Center
Owns 3 satellites it built (latest STPSat-3)
GCAT satellite catalogue, Nov 20, 2013
Jet Propulsion Lab
Owns 4 satellites it built (latest WISE)
GCAT satellite catalogue, Dec 14, 2009
US Air Force Space Systems Division
Owns 3 satellites it built (latest CRRES)
GCAT satellite catalogue, Jul 25, 1990