Author Topic: Atlas V 401 - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - 27 September 2021 (18:12 UTC)  (Read 63107 times)

Offline Chris Bergin

Discussion thread for Landsat 9

Launching September 23, 2021 on Atlas V-401 from Vandenberg.

Flight will carry an ESPA ring with around 18 rideshare payloads (cubesats) from NASA and DoD.  Five ports on the ESPA have cubesat deployers and the sixth port is left open for payload access.



https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/10/nasa-green-light-landsat-9s-development/

(Launch vehicle to be confirmed, but I think we can be pretty sure it's going to be Atlas V, but if not, we can move the thread).
« Last Edit: 09/26/2021 05:43 pm by zubenelgenubi »
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Offline catdlr

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - December 2020
« Reply #1 on: 10/26/2016 04:25 am »
October 25, 2016
CONTRACT RELEASE C16-026
NASA Awards Contract for Sustainable Land Imaging Spacecraft


NASA has awarded a delivery order under the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition III (Rapid III) contract to Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Virginia, known publicly as Orbital ATK, for the Landsat 9 spacecraft.

This contract is a 5-year, firm fixed-price delivery order for the purchase of the Landsat 9 spacecraft in the amount of $129.9 million. Orbital will design and fabricate the spacecraft, integrate the mission’s two government-furnished instruments, and conduct satellite-level testing, in-orbit satellite checkout, and mission operations support. The work will be performed at the contractor’s facilities and at the launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The spacecraft will extend the Landsat program’s record of land images to half a century. Landsat has provided accurate, 98-foot (30-meter) resolution, multi-spectral, global measurements of Earth’s land cover since 1972, building a freely available archive of more than six million satellite images. With data from Landsat satellites, ecologists have tracked deforestation in South America, water managers have monitored irrigation of farmland in the American West, and researchers have watched the growth of cities worldwide.

Landsat 9 is a cornerstone of our nation’s multi-satellite, multi-decadal, Sustainable Land Imaging (SLI) program. SLI is a NASA-U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) partnership to develop, launch, and operate a spaceborne system that will provide researchers and other users with high-quality, global, continuous land-imaging measurements. These data are compatible with the 44-year Landsat record and will evolve through introduction of new sensor and system technologies.

NASA will build, launch, and perform the initial check-out and commissioning of the satellite. USGS will operate Landsat 9 and process, archive, and freely distribute the mission’s data.

The Rapid III contract provides a rapid and flexible means to procure spacecraft in support of the scientific and technology development goals of NASA and other federal government agencies.

For information on NASA and agency programs, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov

-end-
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Offline Star One

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Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - December 2020
« Reply #2 on: 10/26/2016 06:28 am »
Orbital ATK Continues Landsat Legacy with Contract for Landsat 9

 
Orbital ATK has been selected by NASA to build the next civilian land remote sensing satellite, Landsat 9. The satellite, which will be operated by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), will allow the continuation of global terrestrial imaging by extending the Landsat series of satellites to more than five decades of operation. Orbital ATK was awarded the Landsat 9 contract based on a number of factors, including the success of the company-designed and built Landsat 8 satellite, which was launched in 2013. The company was also responsible for the successful Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 satellites launched in 1982 and 1984.

Landsat satellites provide useful imagery for those who work in fields such as agriculture, forestry, education, regional planning and global change research. For example, images from Landsat have shed light on the water crisis facing the western United States and the effects of climate change in Antarctica. Additionally, data from Landsat is crucial for emergency response and disaster relief.

Under the contract, Orbital ATK will design, manufacture and test the satellite in facilities in Gilbert, Arizona and will use the company’s LEOStar-3 platform, a medium-class low-Earth-orbit spacecraft successfully flown on Landsat 8 and NASA’s Fermi and Swift Gamma-ray astrophysics observatories. The company will also support launch, early orbit operations and on-orbit check-out of the observatory, which is scheduled for launch in December of 2020.

http://www.orbitalatk.com/news-room/feature-stories/Landsat9/default.aspx?prid=180
« Last Edit: 10/26/2016 06:28 am by Star One »

Offline rocx

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - December 2020
« Reply #3 on: 10/26/2016 07:03 am »
Quote from: Chris Bergin
Orbital 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?
Any day with a rocket landing is a fantastic day.

Offline StarryKnight

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - December 2020
« Reply #4 on: 10/26/2016 01:12 pm »
Quote from: Chris Bergin
Orbital 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?

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Offline Rebel44

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - December 2020
« Reply #5 on: 08/27/2017 04:46 pm »
Please correct me if I am wrong, but cant SpaceX compete for this launch, if they are condidered as likely to obtain required certification before planned launch date? AFAIK, launch contract has not been awarded yet.

Offline gongora

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - December 2020
« Reply #6 on: 10/19/2017 10:25 pm »
And now it's official...

Quote
Oct. 19, 2017
CONTRACT RELEASE C17-036

NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Landsat 9 Mission

NASA 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

Quote
NASA Selects United Launch Alliance Reliable Atlas V Rocket to Launch Landsat 9 Mission
Centennial, 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.

Offline Rik ISS-fan

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - NET December 2020
« Reply #7 on: 10/20/2017 10:44 am »
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). (Mounts for [filled] propellant tanks inside the satellite are most likely also to weak)
SpaceX still has some work to do before they can launch all payloads! (but do they want to do this?)
« Last Edit: 10/20/2017 10:46 am by Rik ISS-fan »

Offline gongora

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - NET December 2020
« Reply #8 on: 10/20/2017 01:05 pm »
SpaceX isn't certified for this payload category yet.

Offline gongora

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - NET December 2020
« Reply #9 on: 10/20/2017 06:18 pm »
SpaceX isn't certified for this payload category yet.

And speaking of this, does anyone know if NASA publishes a list of the risk category certified for each of the launch vehicles?  I can see the vehicles listed on the performance web site, and I can find a document dealing with the certification options for each risk category, but I don't see a list saying Antares is certified for X, Falcon 9 is certified for X, etc.

Offline catdlr

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - NET December 2020
« Reply #10 on: 02/27/2018 08:54 pm »
Landsat's Calibration and Validation

USGS
Published on Feb 27, 2018

Engineers and scientists from both Landsat and Sentinel missions are working together to calibrate observation data and validate its quality to improve the science using these resources.



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Offline mmonty

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - NET December 2020
« Reply #11 on: 03/11/2018 11:36 pm »
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).

Yes the sensors (OLI and TIRS) are mounted on "top" of the spacecraft bus but the mounts are designed to handle the loads when the spacecraft is horizontal. (the spacecraft and instruments are oriented horizontally in the TVAC chamber during pre-flight testing, for example).

Offline zubenelgenubi

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - NET December 2020
« Reply #12 on: 04/20/2019 10:53 pm »
Cross-posts; my bold:

ONE
https://www.usgs.gov/news/successful-maneuver-spells-beginning-end-landsat-7
FEBRUARY 27, 2017
Quote
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.

TWO
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.

THREE is the attachment.  Launch December 15, 2020
***

Do we have a reference for the delay of launch from June 2021 to November 2021, as per our US Launch Schedule thread here?
« Last Edit: 01/15/2020 07:45 pm by zubenelgenubi »
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Offline Targeteer

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - January 2021
« Reply #13 on: 01/15/2020 04:10 pm »
https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/landsat-9-the-pieces-come-together/

Landsat 9: The Pieces Come Together

Jan 9, 2020 • Landsat 9’s two science instruments are now attached to the spacecraft, bringing the mission one step closer to launch. In late December, the Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) were both mechanically integrated on to the spacecraft bus at Northrop Grumman in Gilbert, Arizona.

The Landsat 9 mission continues the nearly 50-year Landsat data record, providing actionable information to resource managers and policymakers around the world. Landsat 9 will record the condition of Earth’s ever-changing land surface, enabling scientists and others to monitor crops and algal blooms, to assess deforestation trends and urban growth, and to aid disaster management.


Landsat is a collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. NASA oversees the design, build, and launch; USGS operates the satellites on orbit, and manages the expanding data archive.

Engineers will next work on the electrical integration of the instruments, which includes getting power to the instruments and incorporating the satellite’s data-handling hardware.

The OLI-2 instrument makes measurements of Earth’s reflectance in the visible, near infrared, and shortwave infrared; the TIRS-2 instrument extends measurements made by Landsat 9 into the thermal infrared, providing information about the surface temperature. Water managers across the American West, as well as arid regions across the globe, rely on the highly calibrated measurements made by Landsat 8’s Thermal Infrared Sensor to monitor irrigation and water usage and they are eager to have the record continued by Landsat 9’s TIRS-2. Reflected light measurements by the OLI-2 instrument are in turn used to map global land cover, ecosystem health, water quality, glacier flow, and other critical Earth surface properties.
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Offline zubenelgenubi

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Offline gongora

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - January 2021
« Reply #15 on: 02/07/2020 01:53 am »
MOD 283: The purpose of this contract modification is to update CLIN 16 - Landsat 9 Mission, to add Mission Unique Service 15.0 (MUS 15) Battery Relay Box Support and Data Rate Testing and to move the MSCDR in Section D, Attachment D8N - Work Plan. Additionally this modification fixes a clerical error on page C-30.1 Clause 19.8 was inadvertently removed in a prior modification and is now being replaced.  As a result, the following changes are being made:  a. Section B, Clause 1.6, IDIQ Launch Service Task Order (LSTO), Table B-8.16, IDIQ Launch Service Task Order for the Landsat 9 Mission is revised as follows: The total value of CLIN 16 is increased by $313,910, from $141,122,193 to $141,436,103. The total value of SubCLIN 16C is increased by $313,910, from $8,774,204 to $9,088,114.  b. Section B, Clause 2.1, NLS II Total Contract Amount: The firm-fixed price of the contract is increased by $313,910, from $2,322,346,987 to $2,322,660,897.

Offline mmonty

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - January 2021
« Reply #16 on: 07/30/2020 08:17 pm »
now NET September 2021 per internal documents

Offline gongora

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - September 2021
« Reply #17 on: 08/26/2020 03:30 am »
From a ridesharing symposium today: this flight has an ESPA ring with 18 rideshare spacecraft.  One port on the ESPA ring will be left open to allow access to the main payload while in the fairing.
« Last Edit: 08/26/2020 03:30 am by gongora »

Offline mmonty

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - September 2021
« Reply #18 on: 08/29/2020 02:44 am »
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.

Offline zubenelgenubi

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Re: Atlas V - Landsat 9 - Vandenberg - September 2021
« Reply #19 on: 09/09/2020 06:03 pm »
now NET September 2021 per internal documents
Coronavirus delays push back launch of next Landsat to September 2021, SFN, September 7, 2020
Launch previously scheduled for December 2020, then April 2021.
Quote
“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.
Quote
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.
« Last Edit: 09/09/2020 06:15 pm by zubenelgenubi »
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