The payload faring containing the Landsat Data Continuity Mission LDCM spacecraft is lifted to the top of Space Launch Complex-3E at Vandenberg Air Force Base where it will be hoisted atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V for launch. Image released Jan. 25, 2013.
The payload faring containing the Landsat Data Continuity Mission LDCM spacecraft is lifted to the top of Space Launch Complex-3E at Vandenberg Air Force Base where it will be hoisted atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V for launch. Image released Jan. 25, 2013.
-The payload faring containing the Landsat Data Continuity Mission LDCM spacecraft is lifted from a transporter at Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex-3E where it will be hoisted atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V for launch. Image released Jan. 25, 2013.
The payload faring containing the Landsat Data Continuity Mission LDCM spacecraft leaves the Astrotech processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and heads toward the launch pad at Space Launch Complex-3E. There it will be hoisted atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V for launch. Image released Jan. 25, 2013.
The payload faIring containing the Landsat Data Continuity Mission spacecraft arrives at Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex-3E where it will be hoisted atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V for launch. Image released Jan 25, 2013.
The payload faring containing the Landsat Data Continuity Mission LDCM spacecraft departs the Astrotech processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and heads toward the launch pad at Space Launch Complex-3E. There it will be hoisted atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V for launch. Image released Jan. 25, 2013.
An artist's rendition of the next Landsat satellite, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) that will launch in Feb. 2013.
Technicians begin checkout of NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission, or LDCM, satellite at the Astrotech facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California where it will undergo prelaunch processing.
Technicians encapsulate NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) satellite in its payload fairing in the Astrotech processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Feb. 7, 2013.
Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) Observatory Electromagnetic Interference/Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMI/EMC) testing is underway at Orbital Science Corporation's Gilbert, Ariz., location. This image was taken Aug. 7, 2012.
Following fueling operations, a technician inspects the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) spacecraft in the Astrotech processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Technicians encapsulate the NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) satellite in its payload fairing in the Astrotech processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
This photograph of the LDCM satellite shows the satellite side that will point toward the sun. This photo was taken on July 8, 2011.
The Calibration Subsystem uses the sun and the absence of light to establish the light and dark end points of the scale used to interpret the collected reflectance data. This image was taken Nov. 16, 2011.
The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) will fly on the next Landsat satellite and is completing final tests this week at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. This photo was taken on Jan. 24, 2012
Following fueling operations, a technician performs thermal blanket closeouts for the fuel servicing valves on the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) spacecraft in the Astrotech processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Feb. 7, 2013.
The Cryocooler is like a big refrigerator, except that it cools to cryogenic temperatures (below −150 °C, −238 °F or 123 K). This photo was taken on April 4, 2011.
The Operational Land Imager (OLI) is being built by the Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation. This photo was taken on March 9, 2011.
Aleksandra Bogunovic (left) and Veronica Otero (right) look on while Pete Steigner (in the middle) adds a flow tube that will make sure that nitrogen gas flows through the instrument while it's being shipped. The gas will keep contaminating particles from infiltrating the instrument. This photo was taken on Feb. 14, 2012.
An artist's view of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission spacecraft in orbit above the Gulf Coast of the U.S.
The OLI telescope uses a four-mirror compact design. The optics are positioned inside a lightweight, yet highly stable, carbon composite optical bench (i.e., a substrate on which the optics are mounted) that has special features to control undesired stray light (stray light is any light entering the optics from someplace other than the observed Earth surface, or imaging “target”). This photo was taken on June 17, 2011.
Aleksandra Bogunovic reaches across the instrument to affix the corners of a Multi-Layer Insulation blanket to the TIRS instrument. This photo was taken on Feb. 14, 2012.
Bob Rosenberry and Aleksandra Bogunovic tape down the electrical wires on the TIRS instrument before covering it with the MLI blanket. This photo was taken on Feb. 14, 2012.
Technicians at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center lower the telescope into the body of the TIRS instrument. This photo was taken on April 22, 2011.
Pete Steigner, and Mike Golob (middle and right) assist an Chris Kolos in carefully moving a TIRS component across the clean room at Goddard. This photo was taken on Feb. 14, 2012.
This large mirror is called the "Earth Shield" situated on the right side of the TIRS instrument to block light from the sun. This photo was taken on Jan. 26, 2011
The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) will fly on the next Landsat satellite, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). This photo was taken on Feb. 14, 2012.
Aleksandra Bogunovic inspects the fastenings of the Multi-Layer Insulation blanket on the TIRS instrument. This photo was taken on Feb. 14, 2012.
The TIRS instrument in the foreground with its shipping container waits in the background. This photo was taken on Feb. 14, 2012.
A truck moves the first stage booster of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V to Space Launch Complex-3E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in preparation for the launch of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, or LDCM. This image was taken Feb. 7, 2013.
A truck moves the first stage booster of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V to Space Launch Complex-3E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in preparation for the launch of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, or LDCM. This image was taken Feb. 7, 2013.
