Landsat Navigation
Mission Objectives
Under the Sustainable Land Imaging (SLI) Program, Landsat 10 will continue the long-running partnership between NASA and the USGS by acquiring high-quality, space-borne, medium-resolution global land imaging data. The Landsat 10 mission has four major objectives:
Collect and archive medium-resolution (10-60m), reflective and emissive multispectral image data affording seasonal coverage of the global land mass for a period of no less than five years.
Ensure that data are sufficiently consistent with data from earlier Landsat missions in terms of spectral and spatial characteristics, acquisition rates, geometry, calibration, product quality, and data availability.
Support critical emerging user needs and applications, as characterized by periodic assessments and identified by operational requirements.
Distribute data products to the public in a timely and dependable manner on a nondiscriminatory, unrestricted basis.
An Innovative Mission Concept
Landsat 10 is an innovative mission concept that will continue the Landsat program’s legacy of global land imaging with finer spatial resolution and richer spectral information. The mission reflects both advances in technology, in part through the NASA Sustainable Land Imaging-Technology (SLI-T) program, and user application priorities for land monitoring, as reflected in the following key documents:
The key elements of the Landsat 10 concept include:
Continuation of the Landsat legacy through sustainable mission operations.
Collection of bands with higher spatial resolutions, ranging from 10 to 60 meters, for improved detection, monitoring, and management.
Acquisition of 26 spectral bands to support Landsat data continuity, Sentinel-2 compatibility, and emerging applications.
Preservation of spatial, geometric, and radiometric requirements to maintain long-term data consistency and ensure high-quality science products.
Collection of reflective and thermal infrared bands within 15 seconds of each other to allow for band-to-band georegistration and accurate observations.
Development of the Worldwide Reference System-3 (WRS-3) based on the updated orbital parameters.
Implementation of new techniques to increase the efficiency of ground system operations and improve the distribution of data products.
A New Worldwide Reference System
Landsat 10 will occupy a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 653 kilometers (406 miles), have an inclination of ~98 degrees, and image the ground track at the equator at 10:10 am ± 5 minutes (mean local time at descending node). At a slightly lower altitude than previous Landsat satellites …