Landsat 9 is an

Earth observation satellite An Earth observation satellite or Earth remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation (EO) from orbit, including spy satellites and similar ones intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, me ...

launched on 27 September 2021 from Space Launch Complex-3E at

Vandenberg Space Force Base Vandenberg Space Force Base , previously Vandenberg Air Force Base, is a United States Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California. Established in 1941, Vandenberg Space Force Base is a space launch base, launching spacecraft from th ...

on an

Atlas V 401 Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas launch vehicle family. It was originally designed by Lockheed Martin, now being operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Lockheed Martin ...

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, launch pads, supported by a missile launch contro ...

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

is in charge of building, launching, and testing the satellite, while the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

(USGS) operates the satellite, and manages and distributes the data archive. It is the ninth satellite in the

Landsat program The Landsat program is the longest-running enterprise for acquisition of satellite imagery of Earth. It is a joint NASA / United States Geological Survey, USGS program. On 23 July 1972, the Landsat 1, Earth Resources Technology Satellite was l ...

, but Landsat 6 failed to reach orbit. The

Critical Design Review In the United States military integrated acquisition lifecycle the Technical section has multiple acquisition "Technical Reviews". Technical reviews and audits assist the acquisition and the number and types are tailored to the acquisition. Over ...

(CDR) was completed by NASA in April 2018, and

Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) was a sector (business segment) of Northrop Grumman from 2018 through 2019. It was formed from Orbital ATK Inc. a company which resulted from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alli ...

(NGIS) was given the go-ahead to manufacture the satellite.

Design

The design and construction of Landsat 9 were assigned by NASA, under a delivery order contract to

Orbital ATK Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) was a sector (business segment) of Northrop Grumman from 2018 through 2019. It was formed from Orbital ATK Inc. a company which resulted from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alli ...

, in October 2016. The purchase cost of US$129.9 million is part of a five-year contract between the two entities. The budget that provides for initial work on Landsat 9 also calls for research into less expensive and smaller components for future Landsat hardware. Landsat 9 will largely replicate the functions of its predecessor

Landsat 8 Landsat 8 is an American Earth observation satellite launched on 11 February 2013. It is the eighth satellite in the Landsat program; the seventh to reach orbit successfully. Originally called the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), it is a ...

. The former will include near-identical copies of remote sensors: the

Operational Land Imager The Operational Land Imager (OLI) is a remote sensing instrument aboard Landsat 8, built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies. Landsat 8 is the successor to Landsat 7 and was launched on February 11, 2013. OLI is a push broom scanner that uses a fo ...

(OLI) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) instruments – optical and thermal sensors respectively – that will be designated OLI-2 and TIRS-2; the latter will be upgraded to a risk class B implementation (high priority, high national significance, high complexity) while no changes will be applied to OLI-2. NASA selected

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. is an American manufacturer of spacecraft, components and instruments for national defense, civil space and commercial space applications. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ball Corporation (NYSE: BAL ...

to provide the OLI-2 instrument through a sole source procurement. OLI-2 will collect data for nine spectral bands with a

ground sample distance In remote sensing, ground sample distance (GSD) in a digital photo (such as an orthophoto) of the ground from air or space is the distance between pixel centers measured on the ground. For example, in an image with a one-meter GSD, adjacent pixels i ...

(GSD) of 30 m for all bands except the panchromatic band, which has a 15 m GSD. NASA assigned the TIRS-2 instrument as a directed development to

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...

(GSFC). Design changes to the TIRS-2 are intended to address the stray light and Scene Select Mechanism (SSM) encoder problems experienced with the TIRS on Landsat 8. Testing and assessment of the TIRS-2 demonstrate the stray light magnitude has been reduced to 1%.

Launch

Landsat 9 was launched on 27 September 2021 at 18:12 UTC. This is 4–5 years after the end of

Landsat 7 Landsat 7 is the seventh satellite of the Landsat program. Launched on 15 April 1999, Landsat 7's primary goal is to refresh the global archive of satellite photos, providing up-to-date and cloud-free images. The Landsat program is managed and ...

's mission design lifetime and near the end of its maximum (fuel supply) lifetime. The

Launch Services Program The NASA Launch Services Program (LSP) is responsible for procurement of launch services for NASA uncrewed missions and oversight of launch integration and launch preparation activity, providing added quality and mission assurance to meet program ...

(LSP) at the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...

(KSC) controlled the launch operations, which was conducted from

. The launch of Landsat 9 was delayed to September 2021 due to the effects of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

on spacecraft work in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Gallery

Landsat 9 launch - 2021-09-27 - Sarah Stierch.ogg, Landsat 9 launch, as seen from Lompoc, California, on a cloudy day.

References

External links

USGS Landsat Website
{{Orbital launches in 2021 Landsat program Spacecraft launched in 2021 Spacecraft launched by Atlas rockets NASA satellites orbiting Earth Earth observation satellites of the United States

Design

Launch

Gallery

See also

References

External links