Landsat-8 Satellite
Landsat 8 Satellite launched 11 February on the year 2013, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on an Atlas-V 401 Rocket from United Launch Alliance. It was developed as a collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
The satellite carries of 2 science instruments; i) Operational Land Imager (OLI) and ii) Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS). These two sensors provide seasonal coverage of the global landmass at a spatial resolution of 30 meters (visible, NIR, SWIR); 100 meters (thermal); and 15 meters (panchromatic). The OLI measures in the visible, near infrared, and shortwave infrared portions of the spectrum. The TIRS measures land surface temperature in thermal bands.
Tutorial Contents
Landsat 8 Satellite Orbit
- Orbits the Earth in a sun-synchronous, near-polar orbit (98.2 degrees inclination)
- Altitude of 705 km (438 mi)
- Completes one Earth orbit every 99 minutes
- Has a 16-day repeat cycle with an equatorial crossing time of 10:00 a.m. +/- 15 minutes
Landsat 8 Spacecraft Overview
- Altitude: 705 km
- Weight: 2,071 kg
- Length: 3 m
- Diameter: 2.4 m
- Inclination: 98.2°
- Orbit: polar, sun-synchronous
- Data: 12-bit scaled to 16-bit integers
- Data rate: X-band frequency–384 Mbps, S-band frequency- 260.92 Mbps
- Equatorial Crossing Time: nominally 10 AM (± 15 min.)
Landsat 8 Band Combinations
Landsat-8, band combinations displayed as a red, green, blue (RGB):
| Natural Color | 4 3 2 |
| False Color (urban) | 7 6 4 |
| Color Infrared (vegetation) | 5 4 3 |
| Agriculture | 6 5 2 |
| Atmospheric Penetration | 7 6 5 |
| Healthy Vegetation | 5 6 2 |
| Land/Water | 5 6 4 |
| Natural With Atmospheric Removal | 7 5 3 |
| Shortwave Infrared | 7 5 4 |
| Vegetation Analysis | 6 5 4 |
Landsat 8 Sensor/ Instruments
The satellite carries 2 Sensor:
OLI & TIRS Band Composition
OLI Band Composition
| Band | Band Name | Wavelength (µm) | Resolution (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coastal Aerosol | 0.43 – 0.45 | 30 |
| 2 | Blue | 0.450 – 0.51 | 30 |
| 3 | Green | 0.53 – 0.59 | 30 |
| 4 | Red | 0.64 – 0.67 | 30 |
| 5 | Near-Infrared | 0.85 – 0.88 | 30 |
| 6 | SWIR 1 | 1.57 – 1.65 | 30 |
| 7 | SWIR 2 | 2.11 – 2.29 | 30 |
| 8 | Panchromatic (PAN) | 0.50 – 0.68 | 15 |
| 9 | Cirrus | 1.36 – 1.38 | 30 |
TIRS Band Composition
| Band | Band Name | Wavelength (µm) | Resolution (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | TIRS 1 | 10.6 – 11.19 | 100 |
| 11 | TIRS 2 | 11.5 – 12.51 | 100 |
Difference of Landsat 7 ETM Bands vs Landsat 8 OLI & TIRS Bands
| Band | Landsat-7 ETM+ Bands (µm) | Band | Landsat-8 OLI and TIRS Bands (µm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30m Blue 0.441 – 00 514 | 1 | 30 m Coastal/Aerosol 0.435 – 0.451 |
| 2 | 30m Green 0.519- 0.601 | 2 | 30m Blue 0.452 – 0.512 |
| 3 | 30m Red 0.631 – 0.692 | 3 | 30m Green 0.533 – 0.590 |
| 4 | 30mNIR 0.772- 0.898 | 4 | 30m Red 0.636- 0.673 |
| 5 | 30m SWIR-l 1.547 – 1.749 | 5 | 30mNIR 0.851 – 0.879 |
| 6 | 60 m TIR 10.31 – 12.36 | 6 | 30m SWIR-l 1.566 – 1.651 |
| 7 | 30m SWIR-2 2.064- 2.345 | 7 | 30m SWIR-2 2.107 – 2.294 |
| 8 | 15m Pan 0.515-0.896 | 8 | 15m Pan 0.503 – 0.676 |
| 9 | 30m Cirrus 1.363 – 1.384 | ||
| 10 | 100m TIR-1 10.60-11.19 | ||
| 11 | 100m TIR-2 11.50-12.51 |