2013-02-11 22:13:09 -
ORBITAL-BUILT LANDSAT SATELLITE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED
-- Company's Newest Spacecraft for NASA to Continue Landsat Program's 40-Year
History of Collecting Critical Environmental Data for Earth Science Studies --
-- 145(th) Orbital Satellite Extends Company's Legacy of Support for Marquee
U.S. Environmental Monitoring Program --
(Dulles, VA 11 February 2013) - Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of
the world's leading space technology companies, announced that the Landsat Data
Continuity Mission (LDCM) satellite was successfully launched into orbit aboard
an Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base earlier today. Orbital
designed, built and tested the LDCM satellite under a contract from NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) at the company's Gilbert, AZ manufacturing
facility.
Lift-off took place at 10:02 a.m. (PST) and the satellite successfully separated
from the rocket's final stage 78 minutes into the mission, placing it into an
initial orbit about 410 miles above the Earth, from where LDCM will later raise
its orbit to a final altitude of 438 miles. The mission operations team has
confirmed that it is able to command and communicate with the satellite and that
its solar array, which provides electrical power to the two onboard scientific
instruments, is fully deployed and operating as designed.
NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) share responsibility for the LDCM
program. NASA's GSFC oversaw development of the flight systems including the
LDCM spacecraft and the onboard instruments, and is responsible for mission
operations, launch, and in-orbit checkout. The USGS will operate the satellite
and the Landsat ground network, image-processing and archive facilities. USGS
disseminates Landsat data to the worldwide user community free of charge. This
data is used to positively impact a wide variety of industries including
agriculture, geology, forestry, regional planning, education, mapping, global
climate change research, emergency response and disaster relief.
"It was a smooth launch and deployment for the LDCM satellite earlier today and
it is now performing very well early in its mission," said Mr. Mike Miller,
Orbital's Senior Vice President of Science and Environmental Satellite Programs.
"The LDCM satellite will enable the USGS and NASA to maintain the longest
continuous record of Earth environmental data gathered from space. We are
honored to have been an integral part of this legendary program that provides
critical Earth observation data that benefits millions of people and a wide
variety of industries worldwide."
LDCM is the company's 145(th) satellite to be launched since 1982, including 76
commercial and 69 government spacecraft. Once its checkout is completed, it
will join Landsat 4 and Landsat 5, two earlier Orbital legacy spacecraft that
have supported the Landsat program for three decades.
Over the next several weeks, Orbital's LDCM engineering team will support NASA
and USGS with in-orbit testing of the satellite to verify all systems are
operating as planned. Once LDCM is fully tested, USGS will operate the
spacecraft and collect data from multiple ground stations worldwide.
"We are incredibly proud of our dedicated team who designed, built, tested and
participated in the launch of this remarkable observatory," said Daren Iverson,
Orbital's LDCM Program Manager. "Today's launch is the culmination of over five
years of precise engineering and high-tech craftsmanship, along with proven
science-gathering technology, coming together to provide a closer look at our
planet. It has been an extraordinary experience to be part of this program and
to partner with our NASA and USGS customers. In the future, we hope to continue
our critical role in their mission by building the next generation of Landsat
spacecraft."
With an anticipated service life of five years, LDCM is based on the company's
flight-proven LEOStar-3 standard modular spacecraft platform that reduces
assembly and test-cycle times. This low-Earth orbit "bus" has served as the
platform for several other highly successful NASA-sponsored Earth and space
science missions, such as Swift and Fermi.
About Orbital
Orbital develops and manufactures small- and medium-class rockets and space
systems for commercial, military and civil government customers. The company's
primary products are satellites and launch vehicles, including low-Earth orbit,
geosynchronous-Earth orbit and planetary spacecraft for communications, remote
sensing, scientific and defense missions; human-rated space systems for Earth-
orbit, lunar and other missions; ground- and air-launched rockets that deliver
satellites into orbit; and missile defense systems that are used as interceptor
and target vehicles. Orbital also provides satellite subsystems and space-
related technical services to government agencies and laboratories. More
information about Orbital can be found at
www.orbital.com.
# # #
Contact:
Barron Beneski (703) 406-5528
Public and Investor Relations
Orbital Sciences Corporation
Beneski.barron@orbital.com
Notes to editors:
1. A high-resolution photograph of the LDCM satellite in Orbital's Gilbert, AZ.
satellite production facility is available at:
www.orbital.com/images/High/LCDM_in_space_high.jpg
2. More information about the Landsat program can be found at:
svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Landsat.html
3. Broadcast quality video can be found at:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/landsat/main/index.html
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Source: Orbital Sciences Corporation via Thomson Reuters ONE
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