Source: USGS Landsat
The Landsat 9 Ground Network Element (GNE) Preliminary Design Review (PDR) took place at the USGS EROS Center on November 30, 2017. The GNE will provide reliable communication services with the Landsat 9 spacecraft and route data appropriately within the Landsat 9 Ground System (GS).
The GNE began preliminary design work last spring, and the GNE PDR demonstrated progress toward a final design. It was the first of three Landsat 9 GS Element PDRs, the others taking place in January 2018 for the Landsat Multi-satellite Operations Center (LMOC) and in February 2018 for the Data Processing and Archive System (DPAS). PDRs demonstrate how proposed designs meet functional and performance requirements.
A NASA-led board, with representatives from NOAA and USGS, reviewed technical criteria, preliminary relationship of the design to the requirements, interface designs, and integration and test methods. With this successful PDR, the GNE will now proceed to the critical design phase, and a fall 2018 GNE Critical Design Review (CDR). This GNE PDR helps ensure the entire Landsat 9 mission remains on track for a December 2020 launch.