The Landsat Program: Current Status and Future Plans

U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey

John Dwyer and Tom Loveland April 23, 2012

Landsat Science Mission Landsat is a science mission that includes the acquisition, archival, and distribution of global, synoptic, and repetitive coverage multi-spectral imagery of the Earth's land surfaces at a scale where natural and human-induced changes can be detected, characterized, and monitored over time.

1986

2000

Landsat Imaging History

Mission

Launch

End of Imaging

Payload

Landsat 1

July 1972

January 1978

MSS, RBV

Landsat 2

January 1975

February 1982

MSS, RBV

Landsat 3

March 1978

March 1983

MSS, RBV

Landsat 4

July 1982

December 1993

MSS, TM

Landsat 5

March 1984

November 2011

MSS, TM

Landsat 7

April 1999

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ETM+

Landsat 5 TM Acquisitions were suspended on November 18, 2011… • Imaging suspended due to transmitter problems •

– ending more than 27 years of continuous imaging (since 1984) USGS is evaluating options, including:

• • • •

Attempting resumption in May for northern hemisphere growing season imaging Switching to Multispectral Scanner System (MSS) Decommissioning Fuel-based end-of-mission in 2013

Landsat 7 is still collecting global data… • Launched in 1999 with a 5 year design life, • • •

mission is nearly in its 13th year. Robust global acquisitions are continuing (~300350 scenes per day). ETM+ 2003 scan-line corrector failure means 22 percent of each scene is missing. Fuel-based end-of-life is 2017.

Greater Washington, DC Area

The state of the USGS EROS Landsat archive… •

1973

Landsat archive includes over 3 million scenes • >610,000 MSS scenes from 1972 to 1999 • Nearly 1.2 million TM scenes from 1982-2011 • More than 1.2 million ETM+ scenes from 1990present International holdings are being added daily

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• All US-held Landsat data are: • Calibrated to a common radiometric standard • Available in a standard ortho-rectified format • Available at no cost

2000

The Impacts of Free Landsat Data

The user base has grown: Total users in highest data sales year (2001): 1,200 Total users in 2010: 29,900 – and 37,700 users in FY2011 Landsat data are being downloaded by users in over 180 nations and territories A substantially larger portion of the archive is being used: As of March 2008, only 7.7% of the total Landsat 7 scenes in the archive were ordered. Since December 2008, 65.1% of all Landsat 7 scenes were downloaded.

Expanding the Landsat Archive - Global Archive Consolidation An estimated 3 million unique Landsat scenes acquired since 1972 are held in international locations. • In 2011, more than 500,000 international scenes were added to the archive due to strong partnerships with International Cooperators, including Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, and South Africa • More international cooperators will be contributing data this year.

LDCM Mission Operations Concept: Continuity •

Fly LDCM observatory in legacy orbit (705 km, near-polar, sun-synchronous) • Ground tracks maintained along WRS-2 paths with 10:00 a.m. equatorial crossing time & 16 day repeat period

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Collect image data for multiple spectral bands (Vis/NIR/SWIR/TIR) across 185 km swath along each path • Provide coverage of global land mass each season by scheduling the collection of 400 scenes per day • Maintain rigorous calibration

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Archive data and distribute data products • Provide nondiscriminatory access to general public, generate Level 1 data products, distribute data products at no cost

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Direct broadcast of data to network of international ground stations having memoranda-of-understanding with USGS

Operational Land Imager (OLI) – Built by Ball Aerospace

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Instrument description • 8 VIS/NIR/SWIR bands w/ 30 m spatial resolutions • One panchromatic band w/ 15 m resolution • Pushbroom sensor • Four-mirror telescope with front aperture stop • Focal Plane Assembly (FPA) consisting of 14 sensor chip assemblies, passively cooled • Absolute radiometric accuracy < 5% • Mass: 450Kg • Operational Power: 160 W • Size: 1.8 m x 2 m x 1 8 m

OLI delivered to spacecraft vendor on October 3, 2011

OLI and ETM+ Spectral Bands

Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) – Built by NASA Goddard • Instrument description • Two spectral bands at 10.8 and 12 micrometers • 100 m spatial resolution • Pushbroom LWIR sensor • Four-lens telescope • FPA consisting of three 2-dimensional Quantum Well Infrared Photodector (QWIP) sensor chip assemblies • Mechanically cooled focal plane; BATC provided cryo cooler • NEdT @ 300K < 0.4 • Mass: 240 Kg • Operational Power: 380 W • Size: 80 cm x 76 cm x 43 cm (with earth shield deployed)

TIRS delivered to spacecraft vendor on February 10, 2012

TIRS and ETM+ Spectral Bands

L7 ETM+ Thermal Band

LDCM TIRS Band Requirements

Band 6 60 m LWIR 10.00 - 12.50

100 m LWIR

10.30 – 11.30

Band 10

100 m LWIR

11.50 – 12.50

Band 11

LDCM Spacecraft • Spacecraft contract awarded to General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems (GDAIS) in April, 2008 • GDAIS sold to Orbital Sciences Corporation in April 2010 • Space craft will accommodate OLI and TIRS • Provides pointing, power, data capacity, etc. to support LDCM operations • Orbital Sciences Corporation is integrating OLI and TIRS onto the spacecraft at their Gilbert, AZ facility and will ship the observatory to the launch site in September 2012

Atlas V Launch Vehicle •

Atlas V 401 selected by Kennedy Space Center

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• •

Contract with United Launch Alliance (ULA)

Launch will be from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California Launch date: January 24, 2013

Ground System Operational Architecture

Ground System Capabilities •

Collect 400 OLI and TIRS scenes / 24-hour cycle as prescribed by the long term acquisition plan (LTAP)

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Process 400 Level-1 products / day to the highest radiometric and geometric accuracy possible

• •

Produce a quality control (QC) band to include cloud mask

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Provide electronic distribution of Level-1 products and full resolution browse at no cost to the user

Generate a GIS-ready full spatial resolution browse from Level-1 products

LDCM Standard Level-1T Products • LDCM standard Level-1 data products will be consistent with • •

heritage Landsat product specifications. OLI and TIRS data will be co-registered and distributed as a combined product. Metadata will include gain and offsets to convert OLI and TIRS data to at-sensor radiance, and to convert OLI data to at-sensor reflectance • • • • • • • • • •

Pixel size: 15m/30m/30m Media type: FTP Product type: Level-1T (precision, terrain correction) Output format: GeoTIFF Map projection: UTM (Polar Stereographic for Antarctica) Datum: WGS84 Orientation: North up Resampling: Cubic convolution Accuracy: OLI 12m circular error, 90% confidence TIRS 41m circular error, 90% confidence

Expected LDCM science and applications improvements… •

New opportunities for water resources applications • Addition of a 2nd thermal infrared channel improves temperature

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measurements Coastal / aerosol band enables detection of additional water column constituents

Improved detection of surface properties • 5x improvement in signal to noise ratios • 12 bit quantization permits improved measurement of subtle surface conditions

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Additional global daily acquisitions (60% increase)

Landsat’s Long-Term Future is Uncertain • Landsat 5 imaging has been suspended • Landsat 7 will exhaust its fuel by January 2017 • Landsat 8 with a January 2013 launch and five-year design life puts end of life (EOL) at Spring 2018 and with 10 years of fuel by Spring 2023 (Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) design life is three years – EOL Spring 2016) • New mission development takes 5-6 years from authorization to launch

Focusing on the Future •

National Space Policy, June 2010 • The Secretary of the Interior, through the USGS Director and with the NASA Administrator, shall work together in “maintaining a program for operational land remote sensing observations.”

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President’s Fiscal Year 2012 budget request • President Obama asked Congress for $99 million to establish a permanent budgetary and managerial home within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for the Landsat series of Earth imaging satellites

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Fiscal Year 2012 Congressional decision: • Landsat 9 planning was authorized, but the USGS is to evaluate additional concepts for future Landsat satellites

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Landsat alternative studies are underway