Global Citizenship: Our Strength Comes From Working Together
Global Sourcing Spotlight: The Importance of Cooperative Partnerships
The Knowledge Base: The Pivotal Role of Solder PasteNASA Awards Contract for Sustainable Land Imaging Spacecraft
October 26, 2016 | PRNewswireEstimated reading time: 1 minute
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.
Share on:
Suggested Items
Connect the Dots: Designing for Reality: Outer Layer Imaging
09/26/2024 | Matt Stevenson -- Column: Connect the DotsWelcome to the next step in the manufacturing process—the one that gets the chemical engineer in all of us excited. I am referring to outer layer imaging, or how we convert digital designs to physical products. On a recent episode of I-Connect007’s On the Line with… podcast, we explained how the outer layer imaging process maps the design’s unique features onto the board.
Omni Design Technologies Partners with Aura Intelligent Systems on Next Generation Radar
09/16/2024 | BUSINESS WIREOmni Design Technologies, a leading provider of high-performance, low-power data acquisition and signal-processing solutions, and Aura Intelligent Systems, a developer of high-resolution imaging radar for ADAS and autonomous vehicles, announced a partnership on Aura’s next generation digital radar development.
MEMS & Imaging Sensors Summit to Highlight Innovations Driving the Next Generation of Connectivity
09/11/2024 | SEMIThe SEMI MEMS & Imaging Sensors Summit, themed Sensor Revolution for a Connected Future, is set to bring together some of the world’s leading minds in sensor technology on November 14 at the International Conference Center Munich (ICM), Germany.
Teledyne FLIR Delivering Airborne Surveillance Systems to Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Worth Up to $21 Million
09/09/2024 | BUSINESS WIRETeledyne FLIR Defense, part of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated, has announced that it is delivering its Star SAFIRE® 380-HLD multi-spectral imaging systems to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) as part of an agreement worth up to $20.8 million.
Schmoll America: Thriving in the Global PCB Market
07/31/2024 | Marcy LaRont, PCB007 MagazineAs we examine what it means to thrive in our industry, I reached out to Kurt Palmer, president of Schmoll America. The business expansion was created from Schmoll Maschinen to focus on and better serve the expanding North American PCB market. Professionally, Kurt has been in this business for decades. He explains what thriving looks like for Schmoll America as the company moves forward into this new venture and what he is most looking forward to in the years ahead.