Landsat 2
Encyclopedia
Landsat 2 is the second satellite
of the Landsat program
. The spacecraft originally carried a designation of ERTS-B (Earth Resource Technology Satellite B) but was renamed "Landsat 2" prior to its launch on January 22, 1975. Despite having a design life of one year, Landsat 2 operated for over seven years, finally ceasing operations on February 25, 1982.
, the satellite's payload included two remote sensing instruments, the Return Beam Vidicon (RBV) and the Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS). The specifications for these instruments were identical to those of the instruments carried on Landsat 1. (This was not the case for Landsat 3
, which added a short-lived thermal band to the MSS instrument.) The data acquired by the MSS was considered more scientifically useful than the data returned from the RBV, which was rarely used and considered only for engineering evaluation purposes.
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
of the Landsat program
Landsat program
The Landsat program is the longest running enterprise for acquisition of satellite imagery of Earth. On July 26, 1972 the Earth Resources Technology Satellite was launched. This was eventually renamed to Landsat. The most recent, Landsat 7, was launched on April 15, 1999. The instruments on the...
. The spacecraft originally carried a designation of ERTS-B (Earth Resource Technology Satellite B) but was renamed "Landsat 2" prior to its launch on January 22, 1975. Despite having a design life of one year, Landsat 2 operated for over seven years, finally ceasing operations on February 25, 1982.
Satellite Specifications
As in the case of its predecessor Landsat 1Landsat 1
Landsat 1, originally named "Earth Resources Technology Satellite 1", was the first satellite of the United States' Landsat program. It was a modified version of the Nimbus 4 meteorological satellite and was launched on July 23, 1972 by a Delta 900 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California...
, the satellite's payload included two remote sensing instruments, the Return Beam Vidicon (RBV) and the Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS). The specifications for these instruments were identical to those of the instruments carried on Landsat 1. (This was not the case for Landsat 3
Landsat 3
Landsat 3 is the third satellite of the Landsat program. It was launched on March 5, 1978, with the primary goal of providing a global archive of satellite imagery...
, which added a short-lived thermal band to the MSS instrument.) The data acquired by the MSS was considered more scientifically useful than the data returned from the RBV, which was rarely used and considered only for engineering evaluation purposes.