Orbital ATK was also responsible for the successful Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 satellites launched in 1982 and 1984.
Quote from: Chris BerginOrbital ATK was also responsible for the successful Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 satellites launched in 1982 and 1984.Which of their predecessors? Orbital, Alliant, Thiokol, Honeywell?
Oct. 19, 2017CONTRACT RELEASE C17-036NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Landsat 9 MissionNASA has selected United Launch Services LLC (ULS) of Centennial, Colorado, to provide launch services for the Landsat 9 mission. The mission is currently targeted for a contract launch date of June 2021, while protecting for the ability to launch as early as December 2020, on an Atlas V 401 rocket from Space Launch Complex 3E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.The total cost for NASA to launch Landsat 9 is approximately $153.8 million, which includes the launch service and other mission-related costs.Landsat 9 is a partnership between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to continue the Landsat program’s critical role in monitoring, understanding, and managing the land resources needed to sustain human life. Today’s increased rates of global land cover and land use change have profound consequences for weather and climate change, ecosystem function and services, carbon cycling and sequestration, resource management, the national and global economy, and human health and society. Landsat is the only U.S. satellite system designed and operated to repeatedly make multi-spectral observations of the global land surface at a moderate scale that shows both natural and human-induced change.NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida will manage the ULS launch service. The Landsat 9 Flight Project office is located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and manages spacecraft development for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in partnership with USGS in Washington.For more information about NASA programs and missions, visit:http://www.nasa.gov
NASA Selects United Launch Alliance Reliable Atlas V Rocket to Launch Landsat 9 MissionCentennial, Colo. (Oct. 19, 2017) – NASA’s Launch Services Program announced today that it selected United Launch Alliance’s (ULA’s) proven Atlas V vehicle to launch the Landsat 9 mission, the ninth in the satellite program providing the longest continuous global record of Earth’s surface. This award resulted from a competitive Launch Service Task Order evaluation under the NASA Launch Services II contract.“We are honored that NASA has entrusted ULA with launching this critical land imaging satellite,” said Tory Bruno, ULA’s president and chief executive. “ULA’s world-leading performance and reliability, paired with the tremendous heritage of 74 consecutive successful Atlas V launches, provides the optimal value for our customer. We look forward to working together again with our mission partners at NASA’s Launch Services Program, Goddard Space Flight Center and the U.S. Geological Survey in the integration and launch of this significant mission, contributing to the international strategy for examining the health and state of the Earth.”The Landsat 9 mission is scheduled with a contract launch date of June 2021 while protecting for the ability to launch as early as December 2020 from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This mission will launch aboard an Atlas V 401 rocket. ULA also launched NASA’s Landsat 8 mission in 2013 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard an Atlas V rocket. ULA and ULA heritage vehicles have launched more than 30 missions for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center team. Since 2000, Atlas and Delta have performed more than 60 consecutive successful launches for NASA.The Landsat program is a multi-satellite partnership between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey to monitor, understand, and manage the land resources needed to sustain human life. Landsat is the only U.S. satellite system designed and operated to repeatedly observe the global land surface at a moderate scale that shows both natural and human-induced change. Every day, Landsat satellites provide essential information to help land managers and policy makers make wise decisions about our resources and our environment.With more than a century of combined heritage, United Launch Alliance is the nation’s most experienced and reliable launch service provider. ULA has successfully delivered more than 120 satellites to orbit that provide critical capabilities for troops in the field, aid meteorologists in tracking severe weather, enable personal device-based GPS navigation and unlock the mysteries of our solar system.For more information on ULA, visit the ULA website at www.ulalaunch.com, or call the ULA Launch Hotline at 1-877-ULA-4321 (852-4321). Join the conversation at www.facebook.com/ulalaunch, twitter.com/ulalaunch and instagram.com/ulalaunch.
SpaceX isn't certified for this payload category yet.
Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 are practically the same right?It looks like the sensors are mounted on top of the BUS. Could the connection structures be to weak to survive the transition from vertical to horizontal (encapsulated payload mating to F9) and back from horizontal to vertical (F9 erecting at the pad).
https://www.usgs.gov/news/successful-maneuver-spells-beginning-end-landsat-7FEBRUARY 27, 2017QuotePushing the Landsat 7 threshold to [09:15 Local Time Descending Node] gives Landsat 9 until the middle of 2021 to launch. Beyond that, Landsat 7 spacecraft’s science data will no longer be valid and its science mission will likely end.
Pushing the Landsat 7 threshold to [09:15 Local Time Descending Node] gives Landsat 9 until the middle of 2021 to launch. Beyond that, Landsat 7 spacecraft’s science data will no longer be valid and its science mission will likely end.
Orbital ATK Achieves Significant Development Milestone for NASA's Landsat 9 Satellite New Land Remote Sensing Spacecraft on Schedule for 2020 Launch Dulles, Virginia 15 March 2018 – Orbital ATK (NYSE: OA), a global leader in aerospace and defense technologies, has been given approval to begin building the NASA Landsat 9 spacecraft after completing a comprehensive design review of the mission. Landsat 9, a land surface mapping satellite, will collect space-based images and data that serve as valuable resources for researchers in areas that include agriculture, land use mapping, and disaster relief. Orbital ATK is designing and manufacturing the satellite, integrating two government-furnished instruments, and supporting launch, early orbit operations and on-orbit check-out of the observatory.Representatives from NASA and Orbital ATK successfully completed a rigorous Critical Design Review (CDR) demonstrating that the program meets all technical performance measures and requirements. The execution of the design review enables the program to effectively transition into manufacturing and prepare for the assembly, test and launch operations phase of the mission. The Landsat 9 spacecraft will be manufactured and tested at the company’s Gilbert, Arizona, facility and is currently planned for launch in late 2020. The spacecraft will be operated by the U.S. Geological Survey once in orbit. “I am extremely pleased with the progress our team has made since the contract was awarded about a year and a half ago. We have passed every milestone and remain on schedule to launch in 2020,” said Steve Krein, Vice President of Science and Environmental Programs at Orbital ATK. “This will be the fourth Landsat satellite built by Orbital ATK for NASA and demonstrates our continued ability to deliver high-quality land imaging satellites that support the Landsat program’s long record of success.”The Critical Design Review took place February 26 through March 1 at Orbital ATK’s facility in Gilbert, Arizona. Landsat 9 will extend the length of the overall Landsat series to half a century, providing the longest continuous record of the Earth’s surface as seen from space. Orbital ATK has built three other Landsat satellites, including Landsat 8, which was launched in 2013, and is providing high quality images in quantities that surpass mission requirements. The company was also responsible for the successful Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 satellites launched in 1982 and 1984.Landsat 9 is based on Orbital ATK’s flight-proven LEOStar-3™ spacecraft bus platform, the same that was successfully used on Landsat 8. The Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation satellite (ICESat-2) and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-2) spacecraft are also based on the LEOStar-3 bus platform and currently in production for NASA at Orbital ATK’s Gilbert facility.
LandSat 9 is now January 14, 2021.https://www.nasa.gov/content/upcoming-elana-cubesat-launches
now NET September 2021 per internal documents
“The Landsat 9 observatory integration is well underway, overcoming earlier spacecraft development delays that had moved the launch date into 2021,” [Jacob Richmond, a spokesperson for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland] said in response to questions from Spaceflight Now. “The pandemic has interfered with the efficiency of this work, inhibiting critical project team travel to the Northrop Grumman Space System facility in Gilbert, Arizona.”
Both instrument payloads (OLI-2 and TIRS-2) are now fully integrated with the spacecraft bus. Combined environmental testing will start next month and continue into spring 2021.
The OLI-2 and TIRS-2 instruments were delivered to Northrop Grumman last year and installed on the Landsat 9 spacecraft to begin electrical testing.
