Orbital Confirms Successful Launch of Landsat Satellite

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[Satellite TODAY 02-12-13] Orbital Sciences has confirmed the successful launch of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) satellite. The spacecraft was placed into orbit by an Atlas V rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on Monday, Feb. 11. Orbital designed, built and tested the LDCM satellite under a contract from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).

The satellite was placed into an initial orbit at approximately 410 miles above the Earth, according to Orbital. The LDCM will next boost into its final orbit at an altitude of 483 miles. The mission operations team confirmed it is able to command and communicate with the satellite, and that its solar array is fully deployed and operating as intended.

NASA’s GSFC supervised the development of the satellite and its onboard instruments and is responsible for mission operations. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will operate the satellite and the Landsat ground network, image-processing and archive facilities.

The data collected by the LDCM will be publicly available to improve the country’s agriculture, geology, forestry, regional planning, education, mapping, global climate change research, emergency response and disaster relief.

“The LDCM satellite will enable the USGS and NASA to maintain the longest continuous record of Earth environmental data gathered from space,” Mike Miller, Orbital’s senior vice president of Science and Environmental Satellite Programs said on a statement.