NASA/USGS Landsat 9 Passes Review, Now Operational

This natural color image of the San Francisco Bay was captured by Landsat 9’s new Operational Land Imager 2 instrument. Landsat 9 which launched Sept. 27, 2021, is now in its operational phase and the USGS will release the data to the public starting in mid-February.
This natural color image of the San Francisco Bay was captured by Landsat 9’s new Operational Land Imager 2 instrument. Landsat 9 which launched Sept. 27, 2021, is now in its operational phase and the USGS will release the data to the public starting in mid-February. Credit: NASA/USGS

Landsat 9, a joint mission of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), passed its post-launch assessment review and is now in its operational phase.

Continuing the Landsat program’s nearly 50-year record of imaging Earth from orbit, USGS plans to start releasing Landsat 9 data to the public in mid-February and will announce data availability on the www.usgs.gov website.

Landsat 9 launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sept. 27, 2021. The mission team made contact with the spacecraft shortly after it separated from the rocket faring, and ever since then has been working to test, calibrate and commission the new satellite and its instruments.

“The imagery from Landsat 9 is fantastic,” said Del Jenstrom, Landsat 9 project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “I am incredibly proud of our joint agency and contractor team for executing a very thorough and highly successful on-orbit commissioning campaign, bringing this important mission into operational status.”

One of the commissioning activities was flying Landsat 9 at an orbit below its sister satellite, Landsat 8, imaging the same swath of land at essentially the same time, which allowed the team to confirm that the radiometry and geometry of the data align as expected.

Circular irrigated farm fields near Alexandria, Egypt appear in blue in this image captured by the new Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 aboard Landsat 9. TIRS-2 measures surface temperature, so the cool, irrigated fields stand out against the warmer arid lands.
Circular irrigated farm fields near Alexandria, Egypt appear in blue in this image captured by the new Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 aboard Landsat 9. TIRS-2 measures surface temperature, so the cool, irrigated fields stand out against the warmer arid lands. Credit: NASA/USGS

They also calibrated the instruments through a variety of methods, including tilting Landsat 9’s spacecraft to image the full Moon – a steady source of light to ensure the instruments are detecting light consistently. That also confirmed that the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 instrument, or TIRS-2, on the new satellite doesn’t have the stray light problems that affected the first version of the instrument on Landsat 8. This will allow researchers to take more accurate surface temperature measurements, said Jeff Masek, NASA’s Landsat 9 project scientist.

Masek said TIRS-2 and Landsat 9’s other instrument, the Operational Land Imager 2, or OLI-2, are both performing as hoped. That means, with both Landsat 9 and Landsat 8 in orbit, there will be high-quality, medium-resolution images every eight days. He said he’s looking forward to seeing what people do with the new data of Earth’s landscapes and coastal regions.

“The Landsat user base is eager to get another observatory that will double the frequency with which they can get this high-quality data,” Masek said. “This is really going to benefit research in areas like snow cover, crop monitoring and water quality.”

NASA led the commissioning campaign and will soon transfer operational control of the two Landsat 9 instruments to the USGS, which will distribute and archive the data. Command of the spacecraft itself and mission will be handed over to USGS in May, after the team finishes a software update that will resolve a radiation susceptibility issue that the team identified during checkout of the data recorders. Mitigation measures proved successful, and the software update will ensure those measures continue in automated fashion.

“Landsat 9 is distinctive among Earth observation missions because it carries the honor to extend the 50-year Landsat observational record into the next 50 years,” said Dr. Chris Crawford, USGS Landsat 9 Project Scientist. “Landsat 9 enhances the spatial resolution, spectral continuity, and coincidental acquisition of reflected and emitted thermal infrared image data of Landsats 1-8. Landsat 9 ensures continued 8-day global land and near-shore revisit coverage partnered with Landsat 8 in orbit.”

The Landsat 9 launch was managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In July, the Landsat program will mark 50 years since the launch of the first Landsat satellite. Since then, the program has provided continuous coverage of Earth’s land surfaces, allowing scientists and resource managers to track land cover, land use and the impacts of climate change and monitor natural resources. For more information on the Landsat mission, visit www.nasa.gov/landsat9. For updates on Landsat 9, please visit https://www.usgs.gov/landsat-missions/landsat-9.

Televised Prelaunch Briefing Tomorrow for Landsat 9

Landsat 9 spacecraft lift and mate operations take place.
The Landsat 9 spacecraft is lifted for mating to the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sept. 15, in preparation for liftoff targeted for Sept. 27. Photo credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Pedro Caril

NASA will hold a prelaunch briefing tomorrow, Sept. 25, at 1 p.m. PDT (4 p.m. EDT), for Landsat 9, the NASA and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) joint mission to monitor Earth’s land and coastal regions.

Briefing participants are:

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster for NASA’s Landsat 9 mission is positioned inside the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster for NASA’s Landsat 9 mission is positioned inside the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, prior to mating with the Landsat spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin
  • Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator, NASA Science Mission Directorate
  • Karen St. Germain, Director, NASA Earth Science Division
  • Tanya Trujillo, Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, Dept. of Interior
  • Michael Egan, Landsat 9 Program Executive, NASA Earth Science Division
  • Tim Dunn, NASA Launch Director, Launch Services Program
  • Scott Messer, Program Manager, United Launch Alliance
  • Addison Nichols, Weather Officer, Space Launch Delta 30

Watch the briefing live on NASA TV.

Meteorologists with the U.S. Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 30 predict a 90% percent chance of favorable weather for launch on Monday morning, with liftoff winds around 10 knots posing the main concern.

Launch coverage will begin at 10:30 a.m. PDT (1:30 p.m. EDT) on Sept. 27. You can follow the countdown milestones here on the blog and on the NASA website.

Stay connected with the mission on social media, and let people know you’re following it on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using the hashtag #Landsat and tag these accounts:

Twitter: @NASA, @NASAEarth, @NASA_Landsat, @NASASocial, @NASA_LSP, @NASA360, @SLDelta30
Facebook: NASA, NASA Earth, NASA LSP, SLDelta30
Instagram: NASA, NASAEarth, Vandenberg_AFB

NASA’s Landsat 9 Science Briefing on Tap Today

Landsat satellite image of the sands and seaweed in the Bahamas.
Since 1972, Landsat has monitored Earth’s land and coastal regions, contributing to nearly 50 years of free and publicly available data from the mission – the longest data record of Earth’s landscapes taken from space. In this Landsat satellite image, the sands and seaweed in the Bahamas create multicolored, fluted patterns. Photo credit: NASA/GSFC/Landsat

Officials from NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will discuss the launch of the Landsat 9 satellite during a science briefing at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT) Friday, Sept. 24.

The Landsat 9 launch is targeted to lift off Monday, Sept. 27, from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, with the 30-minute launch window starting at 11:11 a.m. PDT (2:11 p.m. EDT). The science briefing will air live on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.

Data from Landsat 9 will add to nearly 50 years of free and publicly available data from the Landsat program. The Landsat program is the longest-running enterprise for acquisition of satellite imagery of Earth. It is a joint NASA/USGS program. Researchers harmonize Landsat data to detect the footprint of human activities and measure the effects of climate change on land over decades.

Once fully operational in orbit, Landsat 9 will replace Landsat 7 and join its sister satellite, Landsat 8, in continuing to collect data from across the planet every eight days. This calibrated data will continue the Landsat program’s critical role in monitoring land use and helping decision-makers manage essential resources including crops, water resources, and forests.

Briefing participants, in speaking order, are:

  • Jeff Masek, Project Scientist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterLandsat 9 mission logo
  • Chris Crawford, Project Scientist, USGS
  • Alyssa Whitcraft, Associate Director and Program Manager, NASA Harvest Consortium
  • Del Jenstrom, Landsat 9 Project Manager, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
  • Brian Sauer, Landsat 9 Project Manager, USGS
  • Sabrina Chapman, Manager, System Engineering, Northrop Grumman Space Systems
  • Sarah Lipscy, OLI-2 Senior Engineer, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.

NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center, is managing the launch. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center will manage the mission. Teams from Goddard also built and tested one of the two instruments on Landsat 9, the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) instrument. TIRS-2 will use thermal imaging to make measurements that are used to calculate soil moisture and detect the health of plants.

The USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, will operate the mission and manage the ground system, including maintaining the Landsat archive. Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado, built and tested the Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2) instrument, another imaging sensor that provides data in the visible, near infrared, and shortwave infrared portions of the spectrum. United Launch Alliance is the rocket provider for Landsat 9’s launch. Northrop Grumman in Gilbert, Arizona, built the Landsat 9 spacecraft, integrated it with instruments, and tested the observatory.

For more information about Landsat, visit: https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov and https://www.usgs.gov/landsat.

Learn more about NASA’s Launch Services Program at: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/index.html.

Stay connected with the mission on social media, and let people know you’re following it on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using the hashtag #Landsat and tag these accounts:

Twitter: @NASA, @NASAEarth, @NASA_Landsat, @NASASocial, @NASA_LSP, @NASA360, @SLDelta30
Facebook: NASA, NASA Earth, NASA LSP, SLDelta30
Instagram: NASA, NASAEarth, Vandenberg_AFB

NASA and United Launch Alliance Update Landsat 9 Target Launch Date

Landsat 9 mission logoNASA and United Launch Alliance currently are reviewing the launch date for the Landsat 9 spacecraft scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Attaching the spacecraft to the Atlas V rocket has been delayed due to out-of-tolerance high winds for the operation and conflicts with other customers using the Western Range.

The Landsat 9 mission now is expected to launch from Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 3 no earlier than Monday, Sept. 27, 2021.

Landsat 9 is a joint NASA and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) mission that continues the legacy of monitoring Earth’s land and coastal regions, which began with the first Landsat in 1972.