Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc.’s Innovation Continues On Landsat Flight Operations
Honeywell (HON) announced that after Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc.’s (HTSI) successful management of the Landsat program for the past 12 years, the organization was awarded a new six-year contract for the continued flight operations for Landsat 7.
Honeywell’s new mission and data management processes anticipate and rectify anomalies and have saved the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the managing organization of the Landsat satellites, $9 million over the past 12 years. In addition, HTSI has successfully extended the Landsat 5’s original three-year mission to 29 years and kept the Landsat 7 operationally viable.
Beyond its data management processes, HTSI also deployed its innovative “Lights Out” automated operations capability that reduced Landsat 7 operations staffing from 24 hours a day to just 10 hours a day, contributing to the overall cost savings for the USGS.
Contract Details
Under the new six-year contract HTSI will continue to manage both the Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellite programs while adding new tasks such as these:
On-orbit flight operations and technical services for the Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites
Sustaining engineering for each spacecraft, helping to keep the spacecraft operationally longer
Sustaining engineering for the Landsat mission control centers, helping manage their critical ground support and management functions
HTSI will also assist the USGS with the safe decommissioning of Landsat 5 by lowering it from its orbiting altitude of 705 kilometers and mitigating risk to nearby U.S. and international Earth-observing satellites. HTSI’s flight operations team has already completed Phase 1 of the decommissioning by successfully lowering Landsat 5’s orbit by 20 kilometers in two delta velocity maneuvers.
HTSI’s History With Landsat
Landsat 5, now in space for more than 29 years, has been kept operationally viable by HTSI’s engineers and operations specialists for 26 years longer than the satellite’s original mission plan. The organization did this through these actions:
Implementing the Landsat Trending and Analysis System (LTAS), which provided engineers with immediate access to the mission’s telemetry information so they could assess spacecraft performance and identify and resolve anomalies
Keeping Landsat 5 in orbit while the satellite experienced an issue with a solar array
In 2008, the satellite’s wideband transmitter began showing signs of imminent failure, but HTSI was able to extend its operations for more than 18 months.
Restarting the secondary Multi-Spectral Scanner sensor, so it could provide downlink access for the spacecraft’s primary image data from its Thematic Mapper sensor
Collectively, these and many other HTSI actions have extended the Landsat mission long past its life expectancy, benefitting the USGS and the worldwide Landsat user community.
Landsat Background Information
Since its launch on March 1, 1984, Landsat 5 has provided more than 600,000 individual images, recording clear-cutting and recovery conditions of rain forests, near- and long-term effects of the Chernobyl explosion, before-and-after records of Hurricane Katrina’s impact, as well as more subtle natural and human-induced changes to the global land surface. In addition to these emergency and management applications of Landsat imagery, millions of people each day use Web-based mapping products supported by this and other imagery data to get where they want to go.
Supporting Quote
Carey Smith, President of Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc. (HTSI)
“HTSI has worked with the USGS for numerous years to help Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 stay in orbit longer than expected. We’ve provide countless innovative programs and services that helped the satellites perform their jobs, and we’ll continue working on making these and future satellites as efficient as possible.”
Supporting Resources
Landsat Background: http://landsat.usgs.gov/
Landsat 5 Background: http://landsat.usgs.gov/about_landsat5.php
Landsat 7 Background: http://landsat.usgs.gov/about_landsat7.php
Read more about Honeywell Aerospace
Follow @Honeywell_Aero on Twitter
Subscribe to Honeywell’s Corporate RSS feed
Based in Phoenix, Arizona, Honeywell’s aerospace business is a leading global provider of integrated avionics, engines, systems and service solutions for aircraft manufacturers, airlines, business and general aviation, military, space and airport operations.
Honeywell (www.honeywell.com) is a Fortune 100 diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; turbochargers; and performance materials. Based in Morris Township, N.J., Honeywell’s shares are traded on the New York, London, and Chicago Stock Exchanges. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywellnow.com.
Honeywell and the Honeywell logo are the exclusive properties of Honeywell, are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other Honeywell product names, technology names, trademarks, service marks, and logos may be registered or pending registration in the U.S. or in other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Copyright 2013 Honeywell.
This release contains certain statements that may be deemed “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that we or our management intends, expects, projects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based upon certain assumptions and assessments made by our management in light of their experience and their perception of historical trends, current economic and industry conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. The forward-looking statements included in this release are also subject to a number of material risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to economic, competitive, governmental, and technological factors affecting our operations, markets, products, services and prices. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results, developments and business decisions may differ from those envisaged by such forward-looking statements.
