General Dynamics
Selected By NASA To Build The Spacecraft For The Landsat Data Continuity
Mission
(22 April 2008) General Dynamics
Advanced Information Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, has been
selected by NASA to build the spacecraft for the Landsat Data Continuity
Mission (LDCM).
Under the terms of the US$ 116 million delivery
order, General Dynamics will be responsible for the design and fabrication of
the LDCM spacecraft bus, integration of the government furnished instruments,
satellite-level testing, on-orbit satellite check-out and continuing on-orbit
engineering support. General Dynamics will also provide a
spacecraft/observatory simulator.
Landsat will obtain data and imagery
for use in agriculture, education, business, science and government. The LDCM
observatory will include evolutionary advances in technology and performance,
providing 60 percent more Earth coverage data per day than the current Landsat
observatory.
"General Dynamics is committed to supporting NASA, and
understands the importance of the Landsat mission," said David Shingledecker,
vice president and general manager of integrated space systems for General
Dynamics Advanced Information Systems. "We look forward to working closely with
the Goddard Space Flight Center for the continued success of the Landsat
mission."
General Dynamics will provide a simple, robust and reliable
Landsat spacecraft that allows for rapid integration and testing. The company
will use mature, qualified, flight-proven components to reduce development
time, shorten integration time and improve performance.
General Dynamics
will build the LDCM spacecraft in its state-of-the-art satellite manufacturing
facility in Gilbert, Arizona. The company has previously built 11 satellites,
including NASA's Swift and RHESSI, all of which have successfully performed
on-orbit. Another spacecraft, NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope
(GLAST), is now undergoing final preparations at Kennedy Space Center for
launch.
For more than 30 years, NASA's Landsat observatories have
collected data of the Earth's continental surfaces to support global-change
research and applications. The collection includes the longest continuous
recordings of the Earth's surface as seen from space. The Landsat Data
Continuity Mission is the future of Landsat satellites.
NASA's Goddard
Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the acquisition of the LDCM in partnership
with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). NASA will turn over management of the
LDCM satellite to USGS after launch and on-orbit checkout.
General
Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics,
designs, develops, manufactures, integrates, operates and maintains mission
systems for defence, space, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance,
homeland security and homeland defence customers. Headquartered in Fairfax,
Va., the company specialises in ground systems; imagery processing; mission
payloads; space vehicles; maritime subsurface, surface and airborne mission
systems; and tasking, collection, processing, exploitation and dissemination
programs for national intelligence.
General Dynamics, headquartered in
Falls Church, Virginia, employs approximately 83,500 people world-wide and
reported 2007 revenues of US$ 27.2 billion. The company is a market leader in
business aviation; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and
munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and information systems and
technologies.
(source: General Dynamics)
