NASA Tasks Ball Aerospace to Conduct Initial Study for Solar Observation Mission

Ball Aerospace has announced its selection by NASA to conduct a Phase A study for the Extreme ultraviolet Coronal Mass Ejection and Coronal Connectivity Observatory mission, an initiative to enhance scientific understanding of the sun’s outer atmosphere.

Through ECCCO, NASA aims to uncover insights into how activity in the sun’s middle corona connects to solar wind and mass ejection phenomena, Ball Aerospace said Monday.

According to the company, the mission would utilize an EUV imager and two spectrographs to capture a continuous, high-contrast observation of the middle corona. Alberto Conti, vice president and general manager of Ball Aerospace’s civil space unit, described the middle corona as among the least studied sections of the sun’s atmosphere.

He added that ECCCO would fill an observational gap for scientists.

The company said it could move on to developing, integrating and testing the ECCCO spacecraft while the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory would handle instrument design.

Katharine Reeves, a solar astrophysicist with the SAO, will serve as the study’s principal investigator.