Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls
On Monday, September 27th, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, with NASA's Landsat 9 satellite. The mission carried the satellite to orbit, where it will monitor our planet's land and coastal regions.
Five decades have passed since NASA has launched the first Landsat satellite. Since then, the agency has always kept a Landsat in orbit to collect images of our planet's health. These images allow researchers to monitor every change that happens on Earth's surface.
"As the impacts of the climate crisis intensify in the United States and across the globe, Landsat 9 will provide data and imagery to help make science-based decisions on key issues including water use, wildfire impacts, coral reef degradation, glacier and ice-shelf retreat, and tropical deforestation," said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.
Landsat 9, a joint mission between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), launched on an Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 3E at 11:12 a.m. PDT. About one hour and 20 minutes after launch, signals from the spacecraft were picked up by Norway's Svalbard satellite monitoring ground station.
Shortly after, the satellite reached its final orbit, joining its sister, Landsat 8. The two satellites will capture images spanning the entire planet every eight days as they work together at an altitude of 438 miles (705 kilometers).
Abroad Landsat 9 are two crucial instruments that will help it measure 11 wavelengths of light reflected or radiated off Earth's surface, namely the Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2).
These instruments will capture images across a 115-mile (185 km) region as the satellite orbits Earth. In these photos, each pixel represents a 98-foot (30-meter) square, or around the size of a baseball infield. At that resolution, resource managers will be able to identify most agriculture fields in the U.S.
The Landsat 9 satellite is designed to last for at least five years in orbit and continue the Landsat 7's mission, which is nearing the end of its maximum (fuel supply) lifetime.
"As the impacts of the climate crisis intensify in the United States and across the globe, Landsat 9 will provide data and imagery to help make science-based decisions on key issues including water use, wildfire impacts, coral reef degradation, glacier and ice-shelf retreat, and tropical deforestation," said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.
Landsat 9, a joint mission between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), launched on an Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 3E at 11:12 a.m. PDT. About one hour and 20 minutes after launch, signals from the spacecraft were picked up by Norway's Svalbard satellite monitoring ground station.
Shortly after, the satellite reached its final orbit, joining its sister, Landsat 8. The two satellites will capture images spanning the entire planet every eight days as they work together at an altitude of 438 miles (705 kilometers).
Abroad Landsat 9 are two crucial instruments that will help it measure 11 wavelengths of light reflected or radiated off Earth's surface, namely the Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2).
These instruments will capture images across a 115-mile (185 km) region as the satellite orbits Earth. In these photos, each pixel represents a 98-foot (30-meter) square, or around the size of a baseball infield. At that resolution, resource managers will be able to identify most agriculture fields in the U.S.
The Landsat 9 satellite is designed to last for at least five years in orbit and continue the Landsat 7's mission, which is nearing the end of its maximum (fuel supply) lifetime.
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