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March 19, 2018 - Landsat 9 Spacecraft Passes Latest Critical Design Review

By Landsat Missions

Orbital ATK has been given approval to begin building the NASA Landsat 9 spacecraft after completing a comprehensive design review of the mission.

Orbital ATK is designing and manufacturing the satellite, integrating two science 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. Landsat 9 is scheduled for a late 2020 launch and 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 also built Landsat 8, which was launched in 2013.

View the complete Orbital ATK press release.