BAE Systems Equips NASA’s Exosphere Observation Satellite With UV Spectrometer

BAE Systems has integrated an ultraviolet spectrometer into a satellite bus that it will provide to NASA to study how the exosphere interacts with space weather caused by the sun.

NASA selected the company to develop the satellite bus, which will carry all scientific instruments for the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory mission, previously called the Global Lyman-alpha Imager of the Dynamic Exosphere.

The Carruthers satellite is planned for launch to Lagrange Point 1 in 2025 as a rideshare payload of NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe mission, BAE Systems said.

In preparation for the launch, the company will continue conducting satellite integration and environmental testing until June to ensure the Carruthers spacecraft can withstand launch conditions and operate properly in space.

According to Alberto Conti, vice president and general manager of civil space for BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems, the mission will provide new data that will help researchers better understand how the Earth’s atmosphere interacts with changing space conditions, which could result in major disruptions with satellite communications and electrical grids.

The Carruthers Geocorona Observatory mission is part of a collaboration between NASA and space-related laboratories at the University of California, Berkeley; Utah State University; and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.