Nichols Martin
United Launch Alliance will lift off a new satellite for an existing program that helps NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey observe changes on planet Earth’s land.
The company said Saturday its Atlas V 401 rocket will launch on Monday from Vandenberg Space Force Base with the Landsat 9 satellite and CubeSats deployed from the ESPA Flight System.
Landsat 9 and the EFS-based CubeSats will deploy in separate orbits as part of what would be Atlas V’s first four-burn mission with the Centaur rocket stage.
The 194-foot-tall Atlas V rocket is boosted by the RD AMROSS RD-180 engine and features Extra Extended Payload Fairing. Aerojet Rocketdyne‘s RL10C-1 engine powers the rocket’s Centaur upper stage.
Gary Wentz, ULA’s vice president for government and commercial programs, said Landsat 9 will expand the capabilities of the Landsat series that informs both scientific and environmental research.
The launch will mark Atlas V’s 20th mission under NASA’s Launch Services Program.
“ULA and our heritage launch vehicles have launched every Landsat mission since 1972,” Wentz noted.
