United Launch Alliance has launched NASA\u2019s most powerful Earth-imaging satellite, Landsat 9, on an Atlas V rocket. Liftoff occurred at 11:12 AM PDT (18:12 UTC) on Monday, September 27, from Space Launch Complex-3 East (SLC-3E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Atlas V placed the satellite into a near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 705 km and a 98.2-degree inclination. Sun-synchronous orbits are often used by Earth-imaging satellites to ensure that the spacecraft will always be at the same position relative to the sun when visiting the same location on Earth. This allows scientists to accurately compare two images at different times and track changes over time.<\/p>\n
Atlas V is ULA\u2019s workhorse rocket, with a total of 87 launches prior to Landsat 9. The variant in use for this mission, the Atlas V 401, was previously launched 38 times.<\/p>\n
Using a three-digit configuration number, the first digit denotes the diameter of the payload fairing, the second indicates the number of solid rocket motors (SRMs), and the third represents the number of RL-10 engines on the Centaur upper stage. For this mission, Atlas used the longest-available 4.2-meter fairing known as the Extra Extended Payload Fairing (XEPF), no SRMs, and a single RL-10 engine on the Centaur upper stage.<\/p>\n