Federal award (DELIVERY ORDER, fiscal year 2024)
Recipient: THE AEROSPACE CORPORATION
Awarding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Funding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Period of performance: 2017-08-02 to 2019-09-30
Current total value of award: $839185.04
Description: LANDSAT 9 GROUND AND MISSION OPERATION SYSTEMS ENGINEERING SUPPORT. LANDSAT 9 GROUND AND MISSION OPERATION SYSTEMS ENGINEERING SUPPORT. THE LANDSAT 9 L9 MISSION, CONSISTENT WITH US LAW AND GOVERNMENT POLICY WILL CONTINUE THE ACQUISITION ARCHIVAL AND DISTRIBUTION OF MULTI SPECTRAL IMAGERY AFFORDING GLOBAL, SYNOPTIC, AND REPETITIVE COVERAGE OF THE EARTHS LAND SURFACES AT A SCALE WHERE NATURAL AND HUMAN INDUCED CHANGES CAN BE DETECTED, DIFFERENTIATED, CHARACTERIZED, AND MONITORED OVER TIME. THE L9 MISSION IS A COMPONENT OF THE SUSTAINED LAND IMAGING SLI PROGRAM BEING CONDUCTED JOINTLY BY THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION NASA AND THE USGS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR DOI. THE GOAL OF THE SLI PROGRAM IS TO PROVIDE DATA INTO THE FUTURE THAT IS SUFFICIENTLY CONSISTENT WITH PREVIOUS LANDSAT DATA TO ALLOW THE DETECTION AND QUANTITATIVE CHARACTERIZATION OF CHANGES IN OR ON THE LAND SURFACE OF THE GLOBE. THE L9 WAS CONCEIVED AS A FOLLOW ON MISSION TO THE HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL LANDSAT SERIES OF MISSIONS, WHICH HAVE BEEN PROVIDING SATELLITE COVERAGE OF THE EARTHS CONTINENTAL SURFACES SINCE 1972. THE DATA FROM THESE MISSIONS CONSTITUTE THE LONGEST CONTINUOUS RECORD OF THE EARTHS SURFACE AS SEEN FROM SPACE.  THE L9 MISSION IS INTENDED TO ENSURE THAT LANDSAT DATA WILL BE PROVIDED TO THE USGS NATIONAL SATELLITE LAND REMOTE SENSING DATA ARCHIVE NSLRSDA FOR AT LEAST 5 OPERATIONAL YEARS PLUS 0.25 YEAR TO COVER THE OBSERVATORY COMMISSIONING PHASE. THE L9 OBSERVATORY WILL CARRY TWO SERIES TYPE INSTRUMENTS, OLI 2 AND THE TIRS 2. THE RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE LANDSAT 9 MISSION IMPLEMENTATION ARE IN GENERAL DIVIDED BETWEEN PRIMARY MISSION AREAS: SPACE SEGMENT, LAUNCH SEGMENT, AND GROUND SEGMENT. NASA IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPACE SEGMENT AND LAUNCH SEGMENT, AND THE USGS IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GROUND SEGMENT. THE USGS IS ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR LANDSAT 9 MISSION OPERATIONS AFTER COMPLETION OF THE ON ORBIT VERIFICATION AND CHECK OUT PERIOD. THE AGENCIES PLAN TO SHARE DATA CALIBRATION, VALIDATION, AND SCIENCE ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE LIFE OF THE MISSION, AS WELL AS ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES, AS APPROPRIATE. NASA IS ACCOUNTABLE FOR MISSION SUCCESS THROUGH DECLARATION OF OPERATIONAL READINESS ACROSS ALL MISSION SEGMENTS AND HANDOVER OF THE MISSION TO THE USGS. AT THE COMPLETION OF ON-ORBIT COMMISSIONING, THE LANDSAT 9 PROJECT PLANS TO HOLD A POST LAUNCH ASSESSMENT REVIEW PLAR WHERE OPERATIONAL READINESS WILL BE DECLARED, FOLLOWED BY A MISSION 2.  TRANSITION AND HANDOVER REVIEW MTHR WHERE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR MISSION LEADERSHIP WILL TRANSFER FROM NASA TO USGS.