- Landsat-9
- Landsat-9 Overview
Landsat-9 Overview
Mission Background
Landsat-9 was launched in 2021 as the latest satellite in the joint USGS and NASA-led Landsat programme. This programme is the longest-running continuous Earth observation programme in history.
The Landsat programme's evolution has led to a greater emphasis on the scientific value of the data, which comes with more stringent requirements for instrument and data characterisation. Landsat-9 data is released on a Near-Real Time (NRT) basis and integrates USGS software within the processing framework to ensure continued global coverage.
The Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) on Landsat-9 operate in tandem with the OLI and TIRS instruments from Landsat-8, with enhancements to their radiometric and thermal capabilities, respectively.
Satellite Design
Landsat-9 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 2 (OLI-2) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2).
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-2 and TIRS-2 data on an onboard solid-state recorder and then transmits the data to ground receiving stations.
Mission Operations
Landsat-9 is in a polar, Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 705 km. It takes 233 orbits, or 16 days, to cover the entire Earth. However, when working in tandem with Landsat-8, the combined constellation's revisit time is reduced to just 8 days. The descending (north to south) equator crossing time is at 10:00 local time.
The Landsat Ground Network (LGN) is the primary system for receiving Landsat-9 data, through three main stations:
- Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA (USGS/EROS)
- Svalbard, Norway (SvalSat)
- Alice Springs, Australia (CSIRO)
NASA also utilises the Commercial Ground Network (CGN), which includes stations in Alaska, Germany, and Norway, to provide additional downlink support for the Landsat- mission.
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