The Orbiting Solar Observatory (abbreviated OSO) Program was the name of a series of American space telescopes primarily intended to study the Sun, though they also included important non-solar experiments. Eight were launched successfully into low Earth orbit by NASA between 1962 and 1975 using Delta rockets. Their primary mission was to observe an 11-year sun spot cycle in UV and X-ray spectra. The initial seven (OSO 1–7) were built by Ball Aerospace, then known as Ball Brothers Research Corporation (BBRC), in Boulder, Colorado.[1] OSO 8 was built by Hughes Space and Communications Company, in Culver City, California.
- ^ Todd Neff (2010) From Jars to the Stars: How Ball Came to Build a Comet-Hunting Machine Archived 18 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine Denver, CO.: Earthview Media.