Landsat-8 was formerly known as LDCM (Landsat Data Continuity Mission) before it was launched in 2013. It is the latest satellite in the joint USGS and NASA-led Landsat programme; the longest continuous Earth imaging programme in history.

With the evolution of the Landsat programme, has come an increased emphasis on the scientific utility of the data accompanied by more stringent requirements for instrument and data characterisation. Landsat-8 data is released on a Near-Real Time (NRT) basis and integrates the USGS software in the processing framework developed by ESA to ensure continued European coverage.

Together the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Infra-Red Scanner (TIRS) replace the ETM+ instrument on board Landsat-7 with significant enhancements.

The European Space Agency is part of the Landsat International Ground Station (IGS) Network. Typically, two or three Landsat-8 passes are acquired at the Kiruna and Matera ESA ground stations per day. In parallel with the USGS activities, ESA operate their own processing system / archiving system / receiving stations for Landsat, however the processing software itself is delivered as a Customer Furnished Item (CFI) from USGS. This combined approach allows users to access an important collection of historical and operational products

Landsat-8 consists of two major segments: the observatory and the ground system. The observatory consists of the spacecraft bus and its payload of two Earth observing sensors, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS).

The two sensors coincidently collect multispectral digital images of the global land surface including coastal regions, polar ice, islands, and the continental areas. The spacecraft bus stores the OLI and TIRS data on an onboard solid-state recorder and then transmits the data to ground receiving stations.

Landsat-8 is in a polar, Sun-synchronous orbit. With an altitude of 705 kilometres, it takes 232 orbits, or 16 days to cover Earth. The descending (north to south) equator crossing time is at 10:00 local time.

The Landsat Ground Station (LGS) is located at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. LGS supports both the Landsat-7 and Landsat-8 missions. The Svalbard ground station is located at the SvalSat facility in Svalbard, Norway and supports both the Landsat-7 and Landsat-8 missions. The Neustrelitz, Germany and Gilmore Creek, Alaska ground stations cover Landsat-8.

Learn more about Landsat-8 from these websites:

• Landsat-8 on the NASA website*
• Landsat-8 on the USGS website*
• Landsat-8 on the eoPortal*

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