On January 5, KBR announced it has been awarded a Technical Support Services Contract (TSSC) by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), with a $350 million ceiling, to deliver advanced technical solutions for the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The award positions KBR to support USGS at the forefront of a new era in Earth observation, as the agency prepares for Landsat Next, a pioneering three-satellite constellation set to launch in 2030.
Under the single Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract award, KBR will harness cloud-native architectures, artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), advanced software and systems engineering and enterprise-scale IT solutions to modernize USGS’s mission-critical operations. KBR will also deliver intelligent data analytics, algorithm development, secure IT infrastructure and long-term preservation of global Earth-observation records that will enable USGS to unlock deeper insights into our planet than ever before. The work will be performed in Sioux Falls and other sites around the U.S. over five years.
“The continuation of this contract is a step forward in how technology can help promote humanity’s understanding and stewardship of the Earth,” said Mark Kavanaugh, KBR’s president, defense, intel and space. “By integrating AI, cloud-native systems and next-generation engineering, we’re helping enable USGS to deliver faster, smarter and more resilient solutions to address natural resource management and disaster response.”
Equipped with advanced sensors, Landsat Next will deliver unprecedented capabilities: higher spatial resolution, global coverage every six days and imaging across 26 spectral bands – more than double today’s Landsat satellites. These innovations will transform how scientists monitor land use, water quality, agriculture, wildland fire and resource trends, providing actionable intelligence to governments, industries and communities worldwide.
Source: KBR
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