Landsat 8 Going Full Steam, Collecting 400 scenes a Day !

Landsat Data Continuity Mission(LDCM) or soon to be rechristened Landsat 8 is operating normally as per the latest update from NASA. The two Systems onbaord Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) have been ramping up their collection rate steadily and have now reached 4000 scene/day. Optimal design rate for the both sensors and future data acquisition standard.

Another interesting update that is Landsat 8 will fly under the Landsat 7 so that both can acquire data at the same time and Landsat 8 imagery can be validated against the Landsat ETM+ data. This cross-calibration is neccassary so that the LDCM data accurately reflects Earth’s radiance when operations are handed over to USGS and data are made available to the public in late May.

Another test included  first OLI stellar calibration. This maneuver involved maneuvering the satellite so that it could view a designated star field so that the pointing accuracy of OLI could be evaluated. On the order hand ground stations at variuos locations  Darwin, Australia; Alice Springs, Australia; Parepare, Indonesia; Kiruna, Sweden; Matera, Italy; and Neustrelitz, Germany successfully downloaded test data.

See also :

Landsat 8 Acquires First image : LDCM successful

Landsat Data Continuity Mission Launched !

Landsat 8 to continue the legacy