WebProNews

Tag: landsat

  • NASA Successfully Launches New Landsat Satellite

    NASA Successfully Launches New Landsat Satellite

    NASA this week successfully launched its Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). An Atlas V rocket was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 1:02 pm EST on Monday, February 11.

    The new satellite will be used, as previous Landsat satellites have, to monitor the earth’s climate and geography. It is the eighth satellite in the Landsat series that has been observing the Earth since 1972. The LDCM’s Operational Land Imager (OLI) will collect data in visible and infrared spectrums, while its Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) will collect data on the heat emitted from the surface of the Earth.

    “Landsat is a centerpiece of NASA’s Earth Science program, and today’s successful launch will extend the longest continuous data record of Earth’s surface as seen from space,” said Charles Bolden, NASA administrator. “This data is a key tool for monitoring climate change and has led to the improvement of human and biodiversity health, energy and water management, urban planning, disaster recovery, and agriculture monitoring – all resulting in incalculable benefits to the U.S. and world economy.”

    The satellite deployed its solar arrays 86 minutes after launch. It is currently powering up and will enter a sun-synchronous polar orbit within two months. During the next three months the satellite will be put through its paces during a check-out phase. After that, control of the LDCM will be transferred to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

    “LDCM is the best Landsat satellite ever built,” said Jim Irons, a LDCM project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “The technology will advance and improve the array of scientific investigations and resource management applications supported by Landsat images. I anticipate new knowledge and applications to emerge with an increasing demand for the data.”

  • Gyroscope Failure Signals the End For Landsat 5 Satellite

    In case you missed it during the end-of-the-year holiday madness, NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have announced the end of the longest-running Earth observing satellite mission in history.

    The Landsat 5 mission has been orbiting Earth and recording global land change for over 29 years. Though the satellite (which was only designed for a five-year life-span) has been repaired on multiple occasions, the failure of a gyroscope has ended the long-running mission.

    “This is the end of an era for a remarkable satellite, and the fact that it flew for almost three decades is a testament to the NASA engineers and the USGS team who launched it and kept it flying well beyond its expected lifetime,” said Anne Castle, assistant secretary for Water and Science at the U.S. Department of the Interior. “The Landsat program is the ‘gold standard” of satellite observation, providing an invaluable public record of our planet that helps us tackle critical land, water, and environmental issues.”

    Landsat 5 has now orbited the Earth over 150,000 times and transmitted over 2.5 million images of the planet’s surface. In its nearly three decades of service, the satellite has photographed the impact of natural disasters, climate change, land use practices, urbanization, and agricultural practices on the Earth’s surface.

    “Any major event since 1984 that left a mark on this Earth larger than a football field was likely recorded by Landsat 5, whether it was a hurricane, a tsunami, a wildfire, deforestation, or an oil spill,” said Marcia McNutt, USGS director. “We look forward to a long and productive continuation of the Landsat program, but it is unlikely there will ever be another satellite that matches the outstanding longevity of Landsat 5.”

    The Landsat program will continue with Landsat 7, which was launched in 1999 and is still in orbit. In addition, the next Landsat satellite, Landsat 8, is scheduled to be launched sometime next month, February 2013.

  • NASA Footage Of Las Vegas Shows City’s Wild, Unlikely Growth

    Typically, in order to make something grow you need water. It’s a pretty basic building block about cultivating, y’know, life.

    Las Vegas does not get thirsty, it would seem, or at least it doesn’t need water to thrive. That truth is all the more evident thanks to new satellite footage released by NASA that shows Sin City’s incredible growth over the past forty years.

    Las Vegas is a curious specimen with how it defies all conventional wisdom regarding the success and growth of thriving cities. For one, it’s in the middle of nowhere. Las Vegas is one of the largest cities to ever exist without immediate access to a major port, harking back to the days when access to a major waterway defined the growth of cities. In spite of the fact that it’s in the middle of the desert, Las Vegas underwent a huge real estate frenzy in the 1970s that saw the creation of iconic hotels like the MGM Grand and the Mirage. As you’ll see in the video below, it’s right around the mid-1980s when the sprawl really starts kicking.

    The video was released by NASA to commemorate the 28th anniversary of the Landsat 5 satellite. The Landsat program has continuously collected data about Earth’s changing landscape since the early 1970s. The footage documenting Las Vegas’ growth is a collection of images from all of the Landsat satellites.

    According to NASA, the video is shown in false-color, meaning that the large red areas you see are actually green spaces, mostly comprised of golf courses and city parks. It’s stupefying that such a green landscape can artificially exist like that.