Landsat Data Continuity Mission

Spacecraft

Following launch, the LDCM satellite system will consist 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). OLI and TIRS will collect the LDCM science data. The two sensors will coincidently collect multispectral digital images of the global land surface including coastal regions, polar ice, islands, and the continental areas. The spacecraft bus will store the OLI and TIRS data on an onboard solid-state recorder and then transmit the data to ground receiving stations.

The ground system will provide the capabilities necessary for planning and scheduling the operations of the LDCM observatory and the capabilities necessary to manage the science data following transmission from the spacecraft.

The LDCM spacecraft, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, has a design life of 5 years, but carries sufficient fuel for 10 years of operations.

Excerpt: LDCM Spacecraft

NASA awarded a contract for the LDCM spacecraft to General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems (GDAIS) in April 2008. Orbital Science Corporation (Orbital) subsequently acquired the spacecraft manufacturing division of GDAIS in April 2010. Orbital has thus assumed responsibility for the design and fabrication of the LDCM spacecraft bus, integration of the two sensors onto the bus, satellite-level testing, on-orbit satellite check-out, and continuing on-orbit engineering support under GSFC contract management (Irons & Dwyer, 2010). The specified design life is five years with an additional requirement to carry sufficient fuel to maintain the LDCM orbit for 10 years; the hope is that the operational lives of the sensors and spacecraft will exceed the design lives and fuel will not limit extended operations. The spacecraft design calls for a three-axis stabilized vehicle built primarily of aluminum honeycomb structure with a hexagonal cross-section. It is being built in Orbital's spacecraft manufacturing facility in Gilbert, Arizona.

Excerpted from Remote Sensing of Environment 122, James R. Irons, John L. Dwyer, and Julia A. Barsi , The next Landsat satellite: The Landsat Data Continuity Mission, 11-21, Copyright 2012, doi:10.1016/j.rse.2011.08.026, with permission from Elsevier

Courtesy of the journal Remote Sensing of the Environment

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USGS Landsat

The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. Since 1972, Landsat satellites have collected information about Earth from space. This science, known as remote sensing, has matured with the Landsat Program.

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Landsat Science

For nearly 40 years, the Landsat program has collected spectral information from Earth's surface, creating a historical archive unmatched in quality, detail, coverage, and length.

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Landsat Education

By virtue of its long history, Landsat's education and outreach program has spawned many educational resources. The effort continues with what will be the newest in this series of satellites, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). To enable educators seamless access to all of these resources, Landsat and LDCM education are united into one program.

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