{"id":268,"date":"2016-08-03T13:16:53","date_gmt":"2016-08-03T12:16:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/rs4eo\/?page_id=268"},"modified":"2020-09-24T16:10:05","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T15:10:05","slug":"6-2-the-landsat-programme","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/rs4eo\/6-major-remote-sensing-systems\/6-2-the-landsat-programme\/","title":{"rendered":"6.2. The Landsat Programme"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Objectives<\/strong><\/p>\n

The purpose of this learning object is to introduce the key characteristics of the Landsat Program, which has been one of the longest-running and most influential of remote sensing satellite programs. The learning object describes the history of the program and explores how developments in sensor technology in particular have influenced the characteristics of the data available.<\/p>\n

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Landsat is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the US Geological Survey (USGS). Landsat was driven by the exciting views from, and great success of, the early meteorological satellites in the early 1960s as well as from images taken during manned spacecraft missions. NASA launched the first Landsat satellite on 23 July 1972, initiating the world’s longest continuously acquired collection of space-based land remote sensing data. Landsat was originally named Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS). The most recent launch (Landsat 8) was on 11 Feb 2013.<\/p>\n

\"landsat_mission_history_2\"<\/p>\n

(Image source: USGS)<\/p>\n

There is no Landsat 6 satellite in the series as it failed at launch after not reaching the velocity required to obtain orbit on 5 October 1993. Landsat 7 was launched successfully in 1999, however, in 2003 its scan line corrector failed. Therefore, images collected by Landsat 7 \u00a0are ‘stripped’-with gaps of data, particularly in the edges of the scene. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) – Landsat 8 was launched in February 2013 . It consists of two isntruments: Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS).<\/p>\n

Landsat Island<\/b><\/p>\n

Landsat Island is a small island 20km off the northeast coast of Labrador that was first detected by the Landsat 1 satellite, hence its name. It is an icy isle 25m wide and 45m long inhabited only by polar bears but marks the eastern-most extremity of the Canadian landmass but due to its location, Canada’s territory grew by 68km2<\/sup> (NASA,<\/p>\n

http:\/\/landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov\/?p=258<\/a><\/p>\n

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(Image source: NASA)<\/p>\n

The Landsat satellites scan the earth in their descending (north to south) orbits, crossing the equator in the morning, between 08.30 and 10.00 local time. The swath is 185km. The Landsat missions have a revisit time of approximately 16 days.<\/p>\n

Orbits are closer at the poles than at the equator, with successive orbits being 2875km apart (at the equator). There is a sidelap between consecutive day acquisition, the amount of which changes with latitude.<\/p>\n

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A number of different sensors have been carried on board the Landsat series of satellites, including<\/p>\n