Landsat 8

On February 11, 2013, the Atlas-V vehicle carrying the LDCM satellite (Landsat Data Continuity Mission) was launched from USS Vandenberg. The spacecraft was designed to continue the program of global space imagery acquisition that the United States has been implementing since 1972 with the help of the Landsat series.

The remote sensing equipment installed on LCDM includes a multichannel scanning radiometer OLI (Operational Land Imager) and a two-channel – IR radiometer TIRS (Thermal Infrared Sensor). The OLI instrument, developed by Ball Aerospace & Technologies, operates at nine wavelengths in the range of 0.433-2.300 μm and provides images with a maximum resolution of 15 m using advanced space imagery technologies. For their development, the experimental EO-1 satellite (launched in 2000 and equipped with the Advanced Land Imager radiometer, a prototype of the OLI radiometer) was used.

The payload of the satellite utilises a new design comprised of fewer moving elements, which will increase its reliability and service life by at least 5 years. The mapping accuracy of the resulting images is 12 m and above. Thanks to OLI, for the first time in Landsat series satellites, it is possible to make observations via two new wavelength ranges, which are crucial for studying cirrus clouds and the quality of lake and coastal waters.

The spatial landsat 8 resolution of the images obtained with the TIRS instrument is 100 m. Its main purpose is to obtain surface temperature characteristics, and to study the process of heat and moisture transfer in the interests of the agricultural sector, water management, etc.

In contrast to the equipment installed on previous Landsat satellites, TIRS provides the ability to conduct observations in not just one, but two infrared wavelength Landsat 8 band combinations. Both instruments shoot in scanning mode along the path of the spacecraft, which reduces the level of radiometric distortion in comparison with the transverse scanning instruments used on previous Landsat satellites.

LANDSAT 8 CHARACTERISTICS
Characteristic	Description
Participants	NASA DOI USGS Spacecraft bus: Orbital Science Corp. Operational Land Imager Sensor: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. Thermal Infrared Sensors: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Launch Date	February 11, 2013
Vehicle	Atlas-V rocket
Site	Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Spacecraft	3.14 terabit solid-state data recorder Power provided by a single 9 x 0.4 meter solar array and one 125 Ampere-Hour (AHr), Nickel-Hydrogen (NiH2) battery Weight: 2,071 kg (4,566 lbs) fully loaded with fuel (without instruments) Length: 3 m (9.8 ft) Diameter: 2.4 m (7.9 ft)
Communications	Direct Downlink with Solid State Recorders (SSR) Data rate: 384 Mbps on X-band frequency; 260.92 Mbps on S-band frequency
Orbit	Worldwide Reference System-2 (WRS-2) path/row system Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 705 km (438 mi) 233 orbit cycle; covers the entire globe every 16 days (except for the highest polar latitudes) Inclined 98.2° (slightly retrograde) Circles the Earth every 98.9 minutes Equatorial crossing time: 10:00 a.m. +/- 15 minutes
Sensors	OLI TIRS
Scene size	170 km x 185 km (106 mi x 115 mi)
Design life	Minimum of 5 years

LANDSAT 8 BANDS
Sensor	Band number	Band name	Wavelength (μm)	Resolution (m)	Band Applications
OLI	Band number1	Band nameCoastal	Wavelength (μm)0.43 – 0.45	Resolution (m)30	Band ApplicationsCoastal and aerosol studies
OLI	Band number2	Band nameBlue	Wavelength (μm)0.45 – 0.51	Resolution (m)30	Band ApplicationsBathymetric mapping, distinguishing soil from vegetation, and deciduous from coniferous vegetation
OLI	Band number3	Band nameGreen	Wavelength (μm)0.53 – 0.59	Resolution (m)30	Band ApplicationsEmphasizes peak vegetation, which is useful for assessing plant vigor
OLI	Band number4	Band nameRed	Wavelength (μm)0.63 – 0.67	Resolution (m)30	Band ApplicationsDiscriminates vegetation slopes
OLI	Band number5	Band nameNIR	Wavelength (μm)0.85 – 0.88	Resolution (m)30	Band ApplicationsEmphasizes biomass content and shorelines
OLI	Band number6	Band nameSWIR 1	Wavelength (μm)1.57 – 1.65	Resolution (m)30	Band ApplicationsDiscriminates moisture content of soil and vegetation; penetrates thin clouds
OLI	Band number7	Band nameSWIR 2	Wavelength (μm)2.11 – 2.29	Resolution (m)30	Band ApplicationsImproved ability to track moisture content of soil and vegetation and thin cloud penetration
OLI	Band number8	Band namePan	Wavelength (μm)0.50 – 0.68	Resolution (m)15	Band Applications15 meter resolution, sharper image definition
OLI	Band number9	Band nameCirrus	Wavelength (μm)1.36 – 1.38	Resolution (m)30	Band ApplicationsImproved detection of cirrus cloud contamination
TIRS	Band number10	Band nameTIRS 1	Wavelength (μm)10.60 – 11.19	Resolution (m)30 (100)	Band Applications100 meter resolution, thermal mapping and estimated soil moisture
TIRS	Band number11	Band nameTIRS 2	Wavelength (μm)11.50 – 12.51	Resolution (m)30 (100)	Band Applications100 meter resolution, thermal mapping and estimated soil moisture

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