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 the ...

on an Atlas V 401

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

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

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

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

Landsat program The Landsat program is the longest-running enterprise for acquisition of satellite imagery of Earth. It is a joint National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA / United States Geological Survey, USGS program. On 23 July 1972, the Landsa ...

, and eighth to reach orbit ( Landsat 6 failed to reach orbit). The Critical Design Review (CDR) was completed by NASA in April 2018, and

Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Orbital ATK Inc. was an American aerospace manufacturer and defense industry company. It was formed in February 9, 2015 from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alliant Techsystems (ATK). Orbital ATK designed, built, and deli ...

(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 Orbital ATK Inc. was an American aerospace manufacturer and defense industry company. It was formed in February 9, 2015 from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alliant Techsystems (ATK). Orbital ATK designed, built, and de ...

, 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 and the seventh to reach orbit successfully. Originally called the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), it i ...

. The former will include near-identical copies of remote sensors: the Operational Land Imager (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 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 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 image locations are 1 me ...

(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 ...

(GSFC). Design changes to the TIRS-2 are intended to address the

stray light Stray light is light in an optical system which was not intended in the design. The light may be from the intended source, but follow paths other than intended, or it may be from a source other than that intended. This light will often set a worki ...

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 insignificant levels.

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 (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 NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

(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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

on spacecraft work in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

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

See also

References

External links