This natural color picture of the San Francisco Bay was recorded by Landsat 9s brand-new Operational Land Imager 2 instrument. Landsat 9 which released Sept. 27, 2021, is now in its functional phase and the USGS will release the information to the public beginning in mid-February. Credit: NASA/USGS
Landsat 9, a joint objective of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), passed its post-launch assessment review and is now in its operational stage.
Continuing the Landsat programs nearly 50-year record of imaging Earth from orbit, USGS plans to start releasing Landsat 9 data to the public in early February.
Landsat 9 launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on September 27, 2021. The mission team reached the spacecraft shortly after it separated from the rocket faring, and since then has been working to test, adjust and commission the new satellite and its instruments.
Masek said TIRS-2 and Landsat 9s other instrument, the Operational Land Imager 2, or OLI-2, are both carrying out as hoped. That suggests, with both Landsat 9 and Landsat 8 in orbit, there will be high-quality, medium-resolution images every eight days. NASA led the commissioning project and will soon move functional control of the 2 Landsat 9 instruments to the USGS, which will distribute and archive the data. Landsat 9 guarantees ongoing 8-day international land and near-shore review coverage partnered with Landsat 8 in orbit.”
In July, the Landsat program will mark 50 years considering that the launch of the first Landsat satellite.
” The imagery from Landsat 9 is wonderful,” stated Del Jenstrom, Landsat 9 project supervisor at NASAs Goddard Space Flight. “I am exceptionally happy with our joint agency and specialist team for carrying out a extremely successful and very comprehensive on-orbit commissioning campaign, bringing this crucial mission into operational status.”
Among the commissioning activities was flying Landsat 9 at an orbit listed below its sis satellite, Landsat 8, imaging the very same swath of land at essentially the exact same time, which enabled the team to validate that the radiometry and geometry of the information align as expected.
Circular irrigated farm fields near Alexandria, Egypt appear in blue in this image captured by the brand-new Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 aboard Landsat 9. TIRS-2 steps surface temperature level, so the cool, irrigated fields stand apart versus the warmer dry lands. Credit: NASA/USGS
They also calibrated the instruments through a range of techniques, including tilting Landsat 9s spacecraft to image the moon– a stable source of light to make sure the instruments are identifying light consistently. That also validated that the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 instrument, or TIRS-2, on the brand-new satellite doesnt have the roaming light issues that affected the first version of the instrument on Landsat 8. This will allow scientists to take more accurate surface temperature level measurements, stated Jeff Masek, NASAs Landsat 9 task scientist.
Masek said TIRS-2 and Landsat 9s other instrument, the Operational Land Imager 2, or OLI-2, are both carrying out as hoped. That suggests, with both Landsat 9 and Landsat 8 in orbit, there will be premium, medium-resolution images every eight days. He stated hes eagerly anticipating seeing what people do with the new data of Earths landscapes and seaside regions.
” The Landsat user base aspires to get another observatory that will double the frequency with which they can get this high-quality data,” Masek said. “This is truly going to benefit research study in areas like snow cover, crop tracking and water quality.”
NASA led the commissioning campaign and will soon move operational control of the two Landsat 9 instruments to the USGS, which will distribute and archive the data. Command of the spacecraft itself and objective will be turned over to USGS in May, after the group ends up a software application upgrade that will deal with a radiation vulnerability problem that the team identified during checkout of the data recorders. Mitigation steps shown effective, and the software application upgrade will guarantee those steps continue in automated style.
” Landsat 9 is unique amongst Earth observation objectives because it carries the honor to extend the 50-year Landsat observational record into the next 50 years,” stated Dr. Chris Crawford, USGS Landsat 9 Project Scientist. “Landsat 9 enhances the spatial resolution, spectral connection, and coincidental acquisition of shown and given off thermal infrared image data of Landsats 1-8. Landsat 9 ensures ongoing 8-day worldwide land and near-shore revisit protection partnered with Landsat 8 in orbit.”
The Landsat 9 launch was managed by NASAs Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In July, the Landsat program will mark 50 years since the launch of the very first Landsat satellite. Ever since, the program has offered constant protection of Earths land surfaces, enabling researchers and resource supervisors to track land cover, land usage and the impacts of environment modification and display natural deposits.