Ball Reorganizes Civil and Operational Space Division

WASHINGTON — Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. split its Civil and Operational Space division into two separate business units Jan. 2, the Boulder, Colo.-based space hardware manufacturer said Jan. 4.

The Operational Space unit, led by Ball Aerospace Vice President and General Manager Cary Ludtke, will oversee the company’s work on the Joint Polar Satellite System civilian weather program, and the Operational Land Imager, the primary instrument aboard NASA’s Landsat Data Continuity Mission spacecraft launching in February.

The Civil and Space Technology unit, led by Ball Vice President and General Manager Jim Oschmann, will concentrate on science and technology development programs for customers such as NASA. Oschmann’s portfolio will include NASA’s massive James Webb Space Telescope, for which Ball is providing the 6.5-meter primary mirror, the Green Propellant Infusion Mission and the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution mission, according to a Ball press release.

Oschmann joined Ball in 2004 and previously led the company’s Tactical Solutions business unit. That unit will now be led by Rob Freedman, a former naval aviator who most recently served as Ball’s director for radio-frequency applications.