Landsat 9 Mission Launched by ULA
The Landsat 9 mission lifted off from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base Monday at 12:11 pm EDT.
"The Landsat series provides outstanding data for Earth environment and science-based research and Landsat 9 will add to these capabilities.
Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of Government and Commercial Programs.
Landsat 9 is a joint mission of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In addition to Landsat 9, this mission includes the ESPA Flight System (EFS) which will deploy multiple CubeSats after Landsat 9 separation. The Atlas V will deploy Landsat 9 and the CubeSats into two different orbits, enabling the first four-burn Centaur mission for ULA on an Atlas V rocket. The Centaur upper stage has the capacity for increased performance, and the flight design of the Landsat 9 mission takes advantage of that capability.
"We are proud to continue to serve as the primary launch provider for Landsat missions. ULA and our heritage launch vehicles have launched every Landsat mission since 1972," said Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of Government and Commercial Programs. "The Landsat series provides outstanding data for Earth environment and science-based research and Landsat 9 will add to these capabilities. We have worked alongside our partners, in a challenging health environment, to prepare to launch this important mission that will empower Earth research from space for decades to come."
The mission launched on an Atlas V 401 configuration rocket that includes a 13.7-ft Extra Extended Payload Fairing (XEPF) and stands 194 ft. tall. The Atlas booster for this mission is powered by the RD AMROSS RD-180 engine. Aerojet Rocketdyne provided the RL10C-1 engine for the Centaur upper stage.
The rocket achieved the planned near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit following a 16-minute powered flight and direct injection from a single Centaur burn. Deployment of the spacecraft occurred about 20 minutes later, at a prescribed point in space that meets the orbital lighting requirements.
After the spacecraft was released, Centaur executed two additional burns over the subsequent hour to lower the orbital altitude and move away from the orbital plane of Landsat 9. The MECO-3 orbit was achieved at T+plus 2 hours and 11 minutes. A short time later, CubeSats from NASA and the U.S. military separated from the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) Flight System, or EFS, mounted atop the Centaur.
This was the 88th launch of the Atlas V rocket and 20th mission launched on an Atlas V in partnership with NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP). This launch is the 300th Atlas launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base. To date ULA has launched 144 times with 100 percent mission success.