The Landsat Data Continuity Mission; Towards a 2011 Launch
James
R.
Irons, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, james.r.irons@nasa.gov
(Presenting)
Jeffrey
G.
Masek, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, jeffrey.g.masek@nasa.gov
William
R.
Ochs, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, william.r.ochs@nasa.gov
The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is moving forward towards the 2011 launch of a free-flying satellite to succeed the aging Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 missions. NASA and the USGS are working in partnership to implement the LDCM. NASA is leading the development of the space segment (that is the spacecraft and sensor), launch segment, and the mission operations element. USGS is leading the development of the ground system and will be responsible for mission operations following launch and on-orbit acceptance.
In July, 2007 NASA selected Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation to develop an the Operational Land Imager (OLI) as the primary LDCM instrument. The OLI will provide data comparable to Thematic Mapper and Enhanced Thematic Mapper - Plus reflective band data with improved performance and two new spectral bands: a blue band principally for coastal observations and a shortwave infrared band for cirrus cloud detection. The OLI will not acquire thermal infrared data. NASA is also in the process of selecting a spacecraft vendor by early spring and has selected the Atlas V for the LDCM launch vehicle.
The USGS is developing a ground system that will plan a robust OLI data collection schedule, capture and archive data into the USGS EROS Center at a rate of 400 scenes per day, and process OLI data to orthorectified images providing top-of-the-atmosphere reflectance, and distribute those images to the public on a non-discriminatory basis. Most significantly, the USGS plans to distribute OLI images over the internet at no cost to those requesting images.
These developments are all pointed towards a July, 2011 target launch data for the LDCM.
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