Landsat 8 image of Los Angeles. Photo: NASA.

Orbital ATK stated the manufacturing of the NASA/U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat 9 spacecraft is progressing on schedule, less than a year after the company won the contract award in October 2016. 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, emergency response 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 recently completed a successful Preliminary Design Review that demonstrated the spacecraft meets all system and schedule requirements. Orbital ATK will manufacture and test Landsat 9 at its Gilbert, Arizona, facility. The satellite is currently planned for launch in late 2020, after which it will be operated by USGS.

According to USGS, Landsat 9 will extend the length of the overall Landsat program 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. The company was also responsible for the 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 it 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 development for NASA at Orbital ATK’s Gilbert facility.