Landsat 5 signing off In 1984, the partnership between the US Geological Survey and NASA launched the 5th satellite in the Landsat series, which has continually documented the Earth’s surface and its changes since 1972. The satellite’s mission was scheduled to last 3 years. Earlier this week, on June 19, 2013, 29 years later, the satellite received its final command from mission control. The satellite easily set the record for the longest-lasting Earth-observing satellite, and collected over 2.5 million images of Earth during its service. Landsat 5 gave the people of Earth their look at many of the events of the past quarter-century. The Chernobyl accident, the flooding of New Orleans in Hurricane Katrina, the development of cities, fires, retreat of glaciers, crop production, and on and on, Landsat 5 quietly documented them. The satellite was taken out of service last year, at long last, due to a mechanical failure. Its most recent replacement, Landsat 8, launched earlier this year and just entered service a few weeks ago (tinyurl/l6xfmjd). After that breakdown, managers began moving the satellite progressively into lower orbits, using up its fuel and removing it from positions where it could pose a hazard to other satellites. Sometime 21 years from now, the piece of machinery that was Landsat 5 will re-enter the atmosphere and burn up unceremoniously. So today, I’ll give this remarkable satellite and the team that put it together and operated it one more bit of ceremony here at this page. This image shows another of the many world-shaping events photographed by Landsat 5. These plumes of black smoke were formed by burning oil wells in the nation of Kuwait in 1991 as the Iraqi army withdrew. The event captured in this photo was one of the worst environmental disasters anywhere during Landsat 5’s service, and these images are a testament to its legacy. -JBB Landsat receives final command: spacenews/article/civil-space/35881usgs-issues-final-command-to-landsat-5 Image credit: landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/archive/e0020.html Mission accomplished for Landsat 5: usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3485
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 14:13:08 +0000