Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Continuity Of Landsat Obersvations: Short Term Considerations, Michael A. Wulder, Joanne C. White, Jeffrey G. Masek, John Dwyer, David P. Roy

GSCE Faculty Publications

As of writing in mid-2010, both Landsat-5 and -7 continue to function, with sufficient fuel to enable data collection until the launch of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) scheduled for December of 2012. Failure of one or both of Landsat-5 or -7 may result in a lack of Landsat data for a period of time until the 2012 launch. Although the potential risk of a component failure increases the longer the sensor's design life is exceeded, the possible gap in Landsat data acquisition is reduced with each passing day and the risk of Landsat imagery being unavailable diminishes for …