-- Orbital-Built Landsat 8 Satellite Continues Program s 40-Year History of Collecting Critical Environmental Data for Earth Science Studies --
The Landsat 8 team is a partnership between
The government and industry team that built and now operates Landsat 8,
the latest in the Landsat series of satellites, was also acknowledged
for their contributions to study of Earth s land surface and coastal
regions. Landsat 8, known as the
The Landsat 8 team met the challenge of continuing and advancing Landsat s four-decade legacy of Earth observations. The OLI sensor on Landsat 8 is a substantial technical advancement over the Thematic Mapper sensors flown since 1982 on Landsat 4, 5 and 7. In addition, the TIRS instrument utilizes a two-band thermal infrared sensor to more effectively address atmospheric contamination in the thermal infrared spectrum. Mission performance has exceeded expectations, providing more imagery, higher quality measurements and new capabilities over previous missions.
The Pecora Award was established in 1974 to honor the memory of a former
USGS director and Interior Undersecretary,
We are incredibly proud of our dedicated team who designed, built and
tested this remarkable satellite observatory, said
With an anticipated service life of five years, Landsat 8 is based on
Orbital s flight-proven LEOStar-3 standard modular spacecraft platform
that reduces assembly and test-cycle times. This low-Earth orbit
spacecraft has served as the platform for several other highly
successful
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
exploration 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 research rocket
and satellite subsystems and space-related technical services to
Source:
Orbital Sciences Corporation
Barron Beneski, 703-406-5528
Public
and Investor Relations
beneski.barron@orbital.com