• Introduction
• Historical information
• Satellite characteristics
• How to get Landsat imagery and data
• Enquiries 

Introduction

Geoscience Australia receives and processes data from the Landsat series of satellites. The Landsat Program is the longest running satellite series for imaging Earth from space. The first satellite in the series was launched in 1972, and since then seven satellites have been launched. The eighth satellite, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, is due to be launched in 2012. The Landsat Program has produced one of the most successful satellite ventures in space history with Landsat 5. Commencing in March 1984, the satellite had an expected life of 3 years. Now over 27 years old, it is still sending back images today. Australia currently relies more on Landsat 5 than on any other land observing satellite.

Of the sensors carried, the Multispectral Scanner (MSS) with 80-metre pixels and four spectral bands was found to provide information of unforeseen value. In July 1982, the launch of Landsat 4 saw the inclusion of the Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor with a 30-metre resolution and 7 spectral bands. Both sensors are on Landsat 5.

The newest in this series of remote sensing satellites is Landsat 7. Launched on 15 April 1999, Landsat 7 has the new Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) sensor. This sensor has the same 7 spectral bands as its predecessor, TM, but has an added panchromatic band with 15-metre resolution and a higher resolution thermal band of 60 metres. The ETM+ sensor also has a five percent absolute radiometric calibration.

Historical information

Landsat MSS data was recorded over Australia by USGS from 1972 to 1979. Geoscience Australia (then ACRES) began acquisition of this data in October 1979. Acquisition of Landsat MSS image data ceased in November 1997. From late 1979 we have archived nearly every pass over Australia and continue to receive and archive data from Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 daily.

Satellite	Launch Date	Notes
Landsat 1	23 July 1972	Decommissioned 6 January 1978
Landsat 2	22 January 1975	Decommissioned 25 February 1982
Landsat 3	5 March 1978	Decommissioned 31 March 1983
Landsat 4	16 July 1982	Decommissioned June 2001
Landsat 5	1 March 1984	Operational
Landsat 6	October 1993	Failed on launch
Landsat 7	15 April 1999	Operating in SLC-Off mode after May 2003

Satellite characteristics

Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Thematic Mapper (TM)

Geoscience Australia started acquiring ETM+ data from the Landsat 7 satellite in July 1999. The Geoscience Australia archive is the largest repository of Landsat 7 images covering Australia.

A fault with the Landsat 7 Scan Line Corrector (SLC) occurred on 31 May 2003 resulting in small gaps in the processed products.

The Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) is a sensor onboard the Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 spacecrafts. It provides information on the Earth's surface in the visible, near, middle and thermal infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Thematic Mapper data of Australia, Papua New Guinea and South-Eastern Indonesia has been acquired in Australia continuously since September 1987 until 31 December 1999. Acquisitions of Landsat 5 TM data recommenced on 1 July 2003.

 

 

 

Radiometric characteristics of the ETM+ and TM sensors

Band Number	Spectral Range (in Microns)	EM Region	Generalised Application Details
1	0.45 - 0.52	Visible Blue	Coastal water mapping, differentiation of vegetation from soils
2	0.52 - 0.60	Visible Green	Assessment of vegetation vigour
3	0.63 - 0.69	Visible Red	Chlorophyll absorption for vegetation differentiation
4	0.76 - 0.90	Near Infrared	Biomass surveys and delineation of water bodies
5	1.55 - 1.75	Middle Infrared	Vegetation and soil moisture measurements; differentiation between snow and cloud
6	10.40- 12.50	Thermal Infrared	Thermal mapping, soil moisture studies and plant heat stress measurement
7	2.08 - 2.35	Middle Infrared	Hydrothermal mapping
8	0.52 - 0.90 (panchromatic)	Green, Visible Red, Near Infrared	Large area mapping, urban change studies

Other satellite and image characteristics

Property		Landsat 7 ETM+	Landsat 5 TM
Ground Sampling Interval (GSI) (pixel size)	Bands 1-5 & 7 Band 6 Band 8	30 - 30 m 60 - 60 m 15 - 15 m pixel size (18 - 18 m GSI)*	30 - 30 m 120 - 120 m N/A
Swath width		185 km	185 km
Repeat coverage interval		16 days (233 orbits)	16 days (233 orbits)
Altitude		705 km	705 km
Quantisation		Best 8 of 9 bits	8 bits (256 levels)
On-board data storage		375 Gb (solid state)	Magnetic tape failed
Orbit type		Sun-synchronous	Sun-synchronous
Inclination		98.2	98.2
Equatorial Crossing		Descending node: 10:00 am	Descending node: 10:10 am
* ETM+ band 8 (panchromatic) was designed to be acquired at 15m resolution, but post-launch testing shows a ground sampling interval closer to 18m.

Multispectral Scanner (MSS)

The Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS) was on Landsat 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. This sensor provided information on the earth's surface in the visible and near infrared parts of the spectrum. Geoscience Australia acquired Landsat MSS image data from 14 September 1979 to 30 November 1997. Image data required for earlier dates can be obtained from archives held by the USGS.

 

 

 

Radiometric characteristics

Band Landsat 1-3	Band Landsat 4 & 5	Spectral Range (Microns)	EM Region	Generalised Application Details
4	1	0.5 - 0.6	Visible Green	Assessment of vegetation vigour, coastal water mapping
5	2	0.6 - 0.7	Visible Red	Chlorophyll absorption for vegetation differentiation
6	3	0.7 - 0.8	Near Infrared	Delineation of water bodies, biomass surveys
7	4	0.8 - 1.1	Near Infrared	Delineation of water bodies, biomass surveys

Other characteristics

Ground Sampling Interval (pixel size)	Landsat 1-3	57 - 79 m
Quantisation		6 bit (64 levels)
Ground Sampling Interval (pixel size)	Landsat 4,5	57 - 82 m
Scene Size		184 - 185.2 km
Quantisation		8 bit (256 levels)

How to get Landsat imagery and data

• Distributors
• Order forms
  Licensing Conditions: special copyright conditions apply to the sale of satellite data. In order to purchase satellite data products, users must agree to the licence conditions covering its use.
• Pricing:
• • Landsat 7 ETM+
  • Landsat TM
  • Landsat MSS
  • Australian Landsat 7 Mosaic poster
  • Landsat Mosaics
• General terms and conditions

Enquiries

To enquire about data availability or to order your Landsat satellite data, please contact Earth Observation Client Services or your Landsat distributor.