the term “Remote Sensing” was
initially introduced in 1960. Before 1960 theterm used was generally .
the 1960s and 1970s saw the
primary platform used to carry remotelysensed instruments shift from
. Satellites can cover much moreland space than planes and can monitorareas on a regular basis.
, imagery became in. The digital format made
it possible to display and analyze imageryusing computers, a technology that was alsoundergoing rapid change during this period.
that recorded the Earth’s surfacesimultaneously in several different portionsof the electro-magnetic spectrum. One couldnow view an area by looking at severaldifferent image.
was launched on July 23, 1972;at that time the satellite was known as the
. Itwas the to belaunched with the express intent to study andmonitor our planet’s landmasses.
The sensors on LANDSAT-1 revolutionizedRemote Sensing.They provided imagery in digital format andin multi-spectral form. It was the beginning oftraditional aerial photography taken fromplanes for decades being replaced by digitalimagery recorded from satellites.
LANDSAT-1’s two image sensorsystems were the
and the. The RBV was
supposed to be the primaryinstrument and the MSS, a highlyexperimental secondary instrument.
However, the MSS imagery was foundto be superior to the RBV imagery.
In addition, the RBV instrumentelectronically interfered at times withthe satellite’s altitude controlfunctions; thus, it had to be
.
In comparison, thebefore the operation
of Landsat-1 was terminated inJanuary 1978.
Details of LANDSAT-1
Launch Date July 23, 1972
Status Expired, January 6, 1978
Sensors RBV, MSS
Altitude Nominally 900 km
Inclination 99.2°
Orbit Polar, Sun-synchronous
Equatorial Crossing TimeNominally 9:42 AM mean local time
(descending node)
Period of Revolution 103 minutes; ~14 orbits/day
Repeat Coverage 18 days
Other LANDSAT were put into operationduring the 1970s.
was launched on January22, 1975 and remained operational forseven years until it was shut down onFebruary 25, 1982. Like LANDSAT-1 itwas considered experimental andmaintained by NASA.
It carried the same instruments asLandsat-1. Again the
Details of LANDSAT-2
Launch Date January 22, 1975
Status Expired, February 5, 1982
Sensors * RBV, MSS
Altitude * Nominally 900 km
Inclination * 99.2°
Orbit * Polar, Sun-synchronous
Equatorial Crossing Time *Nominally 9:42 AM mean local time
(descending node)
Period of Revolution * 103 minutes; ~14 orbits/day
Repeat Coverage * 18 days
Same as LANSAT-1 *
was placed into orbit onMarch 5, 1978 -
and operated until September 7, 1983. Itwas still viewed as an experimental projectand under the control of NASA until 1979.
Because of the overall technical andscientific success of the Landsat Program,operational
, a research anddevelopment agency, to
, the agency charged withmaintaining the weather satellites.
also had the RBV instrument but the instrument
(green to near-infrared; 0.505-0.750 µm)
The ground resolution on this new instrument was 30 m x 30 m.
The instrument also had two parallel sensors with a certain amount of overlap.
A change was also made in the MSS. It still had four spectral bands but a that recorded emitted thermal energy was included. However, this band failed shortly after the satellite became operational.
Details of LANDSAT-3
Launch Date March 5, 1978
Status Expired, March 31, 1983
Sensors * RBV, MSS
Altitude * Nominally 900 km
Inclination * 99.2°
Orbit * Polar, Sun-synchronous
Equatorial Crossing Time *Nominally 9:42 AM mean local time
(descending node)
Period of Revolution * 103 minutes; ~14 orbits/day
Repeat Coverage * 18 days
Same as LANSAT-1 and 2 *
was launched on July 16, 1982.The Landsat-4 spacecraft was significantlydifferent than that of the previous Landsats,and Landsat-4
In addition to theinstrument, Landsat 4 carried a
sensor with, , the new satellites could a
wider portion of the electromagneticspectrum and could see the ground in greaterdetail.
The TM instrument had sevenspectral bands. Data was collected from theblue, green, red, near-infrared, mid-infrared(2 bands) and thermal infrared portions ofthe electromagnetic spectrum.
Band No.Wavelength
Interval (µm)Spectral Response
Resolution (m)
1 0.45 - 0.52 Blue 30
2 0.52 - 0.60 Green 30
3 0.63 - 0.69 Red 30
4 0.76 - 0.90 Near IR 30
5 1.55 - 1.75 Mid-IR 30
6 10.40 - 12.50 Thermal IR 120
7 2.08 - 2.35 Mid-IR 30
after being launched, twoof the solar panels on
as well as its two directdownlink transmitters.
Thus, downloading imagery was notpossible until a data relay satellitebecame operational. Imagery from
was transmitted to the relaysatellite and the relay satellitedownloaded the images to groundstations.
Details of LANDSAT-4
Launch Date July 16 , 1982
Status Decommissioned, June 15, 2001
Sensors TM, MSS
Altitude 705 km
Inclination 98.2°
Orbit * Polar, Sun-synchronous
Equatorial Crossing TimeNominally 9:45 AM (± 15 min.) local time
(descending node)
Period of Revolution 99 minutes; ~14.5 orbits/day
Repeat Coverage 16 days
Same as LANSAT-1, 2, 3 *
was launched on March 1,1984 with basically the same remotesensing configuration as Landsat-4.
and it could no longerdownload international data to the U.S.
NASA engineers devised a way to handlethis problem and Landsat-5 is stilloperational at the present time, 25 yearsafter its designed life expectancy.
The MSS instrument was turned off in August of 1995.
In November 2011, thedue to a rapidly
degrading electronic component.A few months later, engineers turned the
, and implementednew capabilities to ingest the rawinstrument data at the ground station.
On Dec. 21, 2012, the USGS announcedwould be decommissioned after
the failure of a redundant gyroscope.The satellite carries three gyroscopes forattitude control and needs two to maintaincontrol.
Outliving its three-year design life,Landsat-5 delivered high-quality,global data of Earth’s land surface for28 years and 10 months, officiallysetting a
Details of LANDSAT-5
Launch Date March 1, 1984
Status MSS instrument decommissioned
Sensors * TM, MSS
Altitude * 705 km
Inclination * 98.2°
Orbit * Polar, Sun-synchronous
Equatorial Crossing Time *Nominally 9:45 AM (± 15 min.) local time
(descending node)
Period of Revolution * 99 minutes; ~14.5 orbits/day
Repeat Coverage * 16 days
Same as LANSAT-4 *
, which was launched onOctober 5, 1993, failed to reach orbit due toa fuel delivery system in the rocket. Fuel wasnot able to reach a kick motor device,resulting in not enough energy to place thesatellite in orbit.
Details of LANDSAT-6
Launch Date October 5, 1993
Status Lost at Launch
Sensors ETM
was successfully launched onApril 15, 1999 and began scanning the Earthusing the
.
is considered to be the mostaccurately calibrated
. Its spectral band readingsare extremely accurate when measuredagainst the same ground readings.
The ETM sensor would have collected data inthe same seven spectral bands and at thesame spatial resolutions as the TMinstrument on LANDSATS 4 and 5.
The ETM instrument also included anwith a spatial resolution of 15 m. The
eighth band was known as the SharpeningBand or Panchromatic Band. It was sensitiveto light from the green through near infraredwavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum.
is the latest in a long history ofland remote sensing spacecraft, spanning 40years of multispectral imaging of the Earth’ssurface and These features, makes
data important for a wide anddiverse remote sensing community.
Details of LANDSAT-7
Launch Date April 15, 1999
StatusOperational despite Scan Line Corrector
(SLC) failure May 31, 2003
Sensors ETM+
Altitude * 705 km
Inclination * 98.2°
Orbit * Polar, Sun-synchronous
Equatorial Crossing TimeNominally 10 AM (± 15 min.) local time
(descending node)
Period of Revolution * 99 minutes; ~14.5 orbits/day
Repeat Coverage * 16 days
Same as LANSAT-4 and 5 *
launched on February 11, 2013, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
The satellite payload consists oftwo science instruments the OperationalLand Imager (OLI) and the Thermal InfraredSensor (TIRS). These two sensors provideseasonal coverage of the global landmass ata spatial resolution of 30 meters (visible,NIR, SWIR); 100 meters (thermal); and 15meters (panchromatic).
was developed as a collaborationbetween NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey(USGS).
Operational Land Imager (OLI) is a push-broom sensor with a four-mirror telescopeand 12-bit quantization.
OLI provides two new spectral bands, onetailored especially for detectingand the other for .
TIRS collects data for two more narrowspectral bands in theformerly covered by one wide spectral bandon Landsats 4–7.
is returns tothe USGS data archive, increasing theprobability of capturing cloud-free scenesfor the global landmass.
Details of LANDSAT-8
Launch Date February 11, 2013
Status Operational
Sensors OLI, TIRS
Altitude * 705 km
Inclination * 98.2°
Orbit * Polar, Sun-synchronous
Equatorial Crossing Time *Nominally 10 AM (± 15 min.) local time
(descending node)
Period of Revolution * 99 minutes; ~14.5 orbits/day
Repeat Coverage * 16 days
Same as LANSAT-7 *
The(ISRO) is amongst the six largest governmentspace agencies in the world, along withUSA's NASA, Russia's RKA, Europe's ESA,China's CNSA and Japan's JAXA.
India's first satellite, the Aryabhata, waslaunched on 19 April 1975 and this wasfollowed by the Rohini series ofexperimental satellites which were built andlaunched indigenously. At present, ISROoperates a large number of earthobservation satellites.
India had launched various Earth Observationand Communication Satellites.
INSAT (Indian NationalSatellite System) is a series of multipurpose
launched by ISRO tosatisfy the telecommunications, broadcasting,meteorology and search-and-rescue needs ofIndia.
Indian Remote Sensingsatellites (IRS) are a series of
and is the Largestconstellation of remote sensing satellites forcivilian use in operation today in the world.
All the IRS satellites are placed in Polar sun-synchronous orbit and provide data in avariety of spatial, spectral and temporalresolutions to enable several programmesto be undertaken relevant to nationaldevelopment.
The initial versions are composed of the 1(A,B,C,D) nomenclature. The later versionsare named based on their area ofapplication including
:- ISRO currently
operates two .
was launched from Sriharikota
Spaceport on 26 April 2012 on board a PSLV.
RISAT-1 carries a C-band Synthetic Aperture
Radar (SAR) payload, operating in a multi-
polarisation and multi-resolution mode and can
provide images with coarse, fine and high spatial
resolutions.
India also operates which was
launched in 2009 and acquired from Israel at a
cost $110 million.
:- ISRO on 1st July 2013, at23:41Hrs IST launched from Sriharikota the
the IRNSS-1A.
:- ISRO has also launched aset of experimental geostationary satellitesknown as the GSAT series.
, ISRO's first dedicatedmeteorological satellite.
ISRO has also successfully launched the Indo-French satellite SARAL on 25 February 2013.It is being used for monitoring the oceanssurface and sea-levels.