1 of 31
Landsat Data Continuity Mission LDCM Spacecraft Lifted to the Top
Credit: NASA/VAFB
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.
2 of 31
Landsat Data Continuity Mission LDCM Spacecraft Hoisted Aloft
Credit: NASA/VAFB
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.
3 of 31
Landsat Data Continuity Mission LDCM Spacecraft Lifted
Credit: NASA/VAFB
-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.
4 of 31
LCDM Payload in Partial Shadow
Credit: NASA/VAFB
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.
5 of 31
Landsat Data Continuity Mission LDCM Spacecraft Rolls Out
Credit: NASA/VAFB
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.
6 of 31
Landsat Data Continuity Mission LDCM Spacecraft Departs Processing Facility
Credit: NASA/VAFB
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.
7 of 31
Landsat Celebrates 40 Years of Observing Earth
Credit: NASA
An artist's rendition of the next Landsat satellite, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) that will launch in Feb. 2013.
8 of 31
LDCM Spacecraft
Credit: NASA
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.
9 of 31
Fairing Encloses Landsat Satellite
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Landsat
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.
10 of 31
Landsat Data Continuity Mission Environmental Testing is Underway
Credit: Orbital Sciences Corporation
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.
11 of 31
Spacecraft Processing
Credit: NASA/VAFB
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.
12 of 31
Fairing Encloses Spacecraft
Credit: NASA/VAFB
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.
13 of 31
How Will We Sustain a More Populated Planet?
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Landsat
This photograph of the LDCM satellite shows the satellite side that will point toward the sun. This photo was taken on July 8, 2011.
14 of 31
The Calibration Subsystem
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Landsat
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.
15 of 31
Assembly of Landsat's TIRS Instrument
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Rebecca Roth
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
16 of 31
Spacecraft Processing
Credit: NASA/VAFB
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.
17 of 31
The Cryocooler —Part of the LDCM Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS)
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Landsat
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.
18 of 31
The Operational Land Imager (OLI) - LDCM VIS/IR Instrument
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Landsat
The Operational Land Imager (OLI) is being built by the Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation. This photo was taken on March 9, 2011.
19 of 31
Assembly of Landsat's TIRS Instrument
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Rebecca Roth
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.
20 of 31
Artist Impression of Landsat in Orbit
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Landsat
An artist's view of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission spacecraft in orbit above the Gulf Coast of the U.S.
21 of 31
Operational Land Imager (OLI) Telescope
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Landsat
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.
22 of 31
Assembly of Landsat's TIRS Instrument
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Rebecca Roth
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.
23 of 31
Assembly of Landsat's Instruments
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Rebecca Roth
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.
24 of 31
The Telescope —Part of the LDCM Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS)
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Landsat
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.
25 of 31
Assembly of Landsat TIRS Instrument
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Rebecca Roth
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.
26 of 31
Landsat's TIRS Instrument
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Debbie Mccallum
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
27 of 31
The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS)
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Rebecca Roth
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.
28 of 31
Multi-Layer Insulation Blanket
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Rebecca Roth
Aleksandra Bogunovic inspects the fastenings of the Multi-Layer Insulation blanket on the TIRS instrument. This photo was taken on Feb. 14, 2012.
29 of 31
Shipment of the TIRS instrument
Credit: NASA/GSFC/Rebecca Roth
The TIRS instrument in the foreground with its shipping container waits in the background. This photo was taken on Feb. 14, 2012.
30 of 31
Atlas V First Stage
Credit: NASA/Roy Allison
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.
31 of 31
Space Launch Complex-3E
Credit: NASA/Roy Allison
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.
































































