“It is rare for a project to come to the APMC with such a successful story and incredibly clean status for KDP-C,” said Del Jenstrom, the Landsat 9 Project Manager. “The stellar progress being made on all elements of the project by our combined government and contractor team was clearly on display.”
The implementation phase of the Landsat 9 project lifecycle will be dominated by the fabrication and testing of the Landsat 9 instruments and spacecraft; this phase will last approximately 24 months and will be followed by the observatory integration phase.
Landsat 9 remains on track for its aggressive December 2020 launch date.

Above the Earth, Below the Surface: Landsat’s Role in Monitoring Water Quality
Safeguarding freshwater resources is crucial, and while scientists use a variety of ground-based techniques to gauge water quality, the Landsat program has provided water quality data from orbit for decades.