Landsat 9 is an earth observation satellite and was launched from the Space Launch Complex 3E at Vandenberg Air Force Base on 27th September in the year 2021. The mission started with the Atlas V401 Launcher. This is a joint mission of NASA and the United States Geological Survey (USGS). NASA is responsible for the construction, launch and testing of the satellite, and the USGS will operate the satellite and manage and distribute the data archives.
Highlights
Landsat9 is the continuation of a series of nearly 50-year-old Earth observation spacecraft. The first Landsat satellite was launched in the year 1972, and since then, the Landsat satellite has been collecting images of the Earth and helping understand how land use has changed over the decades. In the year 2008, it was decided to release all Landsat images for free, and this policy has helped many farmers, researchers, glaciologists, policy analysts and seismologists. Landsat images have been used to study coral reefs, forests, glacial melting conditions and water quality monitoring.
Technical Details of Landsat 9
Landsat 9 joins Landsat 8 launched in the year 2013, and satellites will work together to collect images of the surface of the earth. It takes eight days to cover the entire globe. The Landsat 9 has the same equipment as other Landsat satellites, but is this generation?s most technologically advanced satellite. The equipment installed in the Landsat 9 is Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS2) and Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI2). OLI2 captures sunlight reflected from the surface of the earth and examines the visible, near-infrared, and shortwave infrared components of the spectrum. TIRS2 is equipped with a four-element refraction telescope and a photosensitive detector that detect thermal radiation and contribute to the investigation of the Earth’s surface temperature. Together with the European Union’s Sentinel 2 satellite, the Landsat satellite estimates the extent of climate change more accurately.
Landsat 9 Design
NASA outsourced Landsat 9 planning and construction to Orbital ATK in the year 2016 as part of a supply agreement. The acquisition cost is $ 129.9 million and is part of a five-year contract between NASA and the USGS. Landsat 9 has a structure similar to Landsat 8 released in the year 2013. However, Landsat 9 sends data to Earth with higher radiation resolution. This allows one to see finer differences, especially in dark areas such as jungles and water. For example, Landsat 9 can distinguish between 16,000 shades of color for a particular wavelength.
Last Modified: February 15, 2024