The program was referred to as the Earth Resources Technology Satellites Program when it was initiated in 1966, however the name was modified to Landsat in 1975. In 1979, Presidential Directive 54 underneath President of the United States Jimmy Carter transferred Landsat operations from NASA to NOAA , advisable growth of long run operational system with 4 additional satellites past Landsat 3, and beneficial transition to personal sector operation of Landsat. This occurred in 1985 when the Earth Observation Satellite Company (EOSAT), a partnership of Hughes Aircraft and RCA , was chosen by NOAA to operate the Landsat system underneath a ten-yr contract. EOSAT operated Landsats four and 5, had exclusive rights to market Landsat knowledge, and was to construct Landsats 6 and 7.
EDC will generate Degree 0R data files, metadata, and browse images for all Landsat 7 knowledge received by the Landsat 7 Floor Station at EDC. The EDC-DAAC will provide entry to the Landsat 7 metadata and browse photographs on a non-discriminatory foundation and will generate Level 0R, Level 1R, and Stage 1G data merchandise on request (see Attachment for descriptions of the info merchandise) for distribution to Landsat data customers.
From the first launch in 1972, Landsat was designed to offer a world document of land-cover and land-use change. The earliest satellites captured photos at a number of seen-light and near-infrared frequencies, all with a decision of 80 metres. Landsats 4 and 5 reached 30-metre resolution and will see farther into the infrared, to help research of soil moisture and vegetation. Landsat 7 added a multi-spectral sensor that can achieve 15-metre decision. Through cautious calibration, the programme has built up a steady 40-year record of observations at the authentic frequencies, spanning a interval of giant change for the planet.
The Product Documentation / Product Contents data on this web page explains that the info are stored with a scale issue; multiply the pixel value by the dimensions factor to get the true pixel value; for instance, reflectance is saved within the WELD products with a scale factor of 0.0001, so a pixel worth of 500 corresponds to a reflectance of 500 x 0.0001 = 0.05.
Abstract: The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat-eight represents a generational change from heritage Landsat devices in its design, whereas it maintains data continuity with the forty+ year Landsat information archive. It preserves the 30-m ground sample distance, 185-km swath width and VIS/NIR/SWIR spectral bands. Furthermore, information continuity resulted from extensive pre-launch and on-orbit calibration and characterization campaigns. This paper presents an overview of the OLI design, the pre-launch characterization results and the on-orbit performance.
