Landsat Next on the Horizon

Landsat Next on the Horizon

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INSIGHTi

Landsat Next on the Horizon
Updated June 28, 2024
In December 2022, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS) presented initial details about Landsat Next, the next proposed launch in the Landsat
series of Earth-observing satellite missions that began in 1972. Landsat Next is to be a constellation of
three satellites sent into orbit on the same launch vehicle in 2030 (Figure 1). Landsat Next is expected to
collect about 15 times more data than its predecessor mission, Landsat 9.
Figure 1. Schematic of Landsat Next Constellation

Source: U.S. Geological Survey, “Landsat Next,” https://www.usgs.gov/landsat-missions/landsat-next.
Notes: The green, orange, and yellow paths are taken by Landsat Next satellites A, B, and C, respectively.
Landsat sensors detect and digitally record visible, shortwave-infrared, and thermal-infrared energy. They
transmit images to ground stations where they are processed and stored in a data archive. Landsat images
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are intended to be consistent with archived images to enable long-term comparisons of changes in Earth’s
land features. In 2008, the USGS began making all Landsat data publicly available for free, unrestricted
download. In 2020, the USGS began releasing Landsat data, still for free, via the commercial cloud.
Sustainable Land Imaging Program
In 2016, NASA and the Department of the Interior (DOI), which includes the USGS, entered into an
interagency agreement to redefine their long-term Landsat collaboration through the Sustainable Land
Imaging Program (SLIP) and outline their respective responsibilities for future Landsat missions. Under
SLIP, the agencies are to develop a multi-decadal, spaceborne system to provide high-quality global land-
imaging measurements compatible with the existing Landsat record. In practice, NASA develops Landsat
satellites and instruments, launches the spacecraft, and checks initial mission performance. The USGS
then takes over satellite operations and manages the collected image data at the Earth Resources
Observation and Science Center. SLIP’s memorandum of understanding also calls for jointly developing
program strategy and architecture, identifying user needs, and deﬁning mission requirements.
Current Landsat Observations
Landsat 9 was the first Landsat satellite launched under SLIP. Currently, Landsat 8 and 9 add nearly 1,500
new images a day to the Landsat archive. The satellites each carry two sensors: an operational land
imager (OLI), which observes many of the same spectral bands of radiation as Landsat 7, but with
improvements, and a thermal infrared sensor (TIRS), which can measure land surface temperature. Both
instruments have a 5-year mission design life, although the satellites were launched with more than 10
years of fuel. For more information, see CRS Report R46560, Landsat 9 and the Future of the Sustainable
Land Imaging Program.
Other countries have remote sensing satellite systems compatible with Landsat in certain capabilities but
not in others. For example, the European Space Agency’s Copernicus program has deployed its Sentinel-
2A and Sentinel-2B satellites with many of the technical characteristics of Landsat 8 and 9, though they
have additional capabilities (e.g., red-edge and water vapor spectral bands) and lack thermal infrared
capability. Collectively, these satellites and others represent a system of systems, as called for by the
National Academy of Sciences in the 2018 decadal strategy for Earth observation from space.
Resolution Improvements Projected for Landsat Next
Under SLIP, a Joint Agency Sustainable Land Imaging Architecture Study Team evaluated an acquisition
strategy for a follow-on mission to Landsat 9 that would best satisfy user needs, mission architecture, and
mission requirements. NASA and the USGS state that the result, the planned Landsat Next constellation,
will improve temporal, spatial, and spectral resolutions by two to three times (Table 1), while maintaining
radiometric resolution (e.g., how much information is perceived by a satellite’s sensor). The sensors on
Landsat Next are to have 26 spectral bands (Figure 2), including refined versions of the 11 Landsat
“heritage” bands, 5 bands with similar characteristics to Sentinel-2 bands, and 10 new bands to support
emerging applications.

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Table 1. Resolution Differences Between Landsat 8 and 9, Sentinel-2 A and B,
and Landsat Next
Resolution
Definition
Landsat 8 and 9
Sentinel-2 A and B
Landsat Next
Temporala
Amount of time between visits
16 days per satellite
10 days per satellite
16 days per satellite
of a sensor to a specific
or 8 days in tandem
or 5 days in tandem
or 6 days col ectively
observation area (i.e., the time
(swath width of 185
(swath width of 290
(swath width of 165
between satellite orbits over
kilometers)
kilometers)
kilometers)
the same location)
Spatial
Size of the area on Earth’s
30x30 meters for 9
10x10 meters for 3
10x10 meters for 5
surface represented by each
OLI bands; 100x100
bands; 20x20 meters
bands; 20x20 meters
pixel (finer resolution allows
meters for 2 TIRS
for 6 bands; 60x60
for 13 bands; 60x60
greater detail within the
bands
meters for 4 bands
meters for 8 bands
targeted area)
Spectral
Ability of a sensor to discern
11 bands (including 2
13 bands (no thermal
26 bands (including 5
different wavelengths of
thermal bands)
bands)
thermal bands)
electromagnetic radiation
(more wavelength bands
provide finer resolution)
Source: CRS using National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Geological Survey, and European Space Agency
websites.
Notes: OLI = operational land imager; TIRS = thermal infrared sensor.
a. Clouds can obscure imagery of the Earth at any given time, affecting temporal resolution.

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Figure 2. Spectral Comparison of Landsat 8 and 9 and Landsat Next

Source: CRS using U.S. Geological Survey, “Landsat Next,” https://www.usgs.gov/landsat-missions/landsat-next.
Moving Landsat Next Forward
Landsat Next’s life cycle progress, including mission formulation, design, construction, launch, and
operations, is contingent on multiple years of federal appropriations. In 2022, the mission entered
Formulation Phase A to complete concept and technology development. After requesting funds to initiate
Landsat Next in FY2024, NASA requested $150.0 million for FY2025. In FY2025, the USGS requested
an increase of $8.9 million over FY2024 funding of $94.5 million for Landsat Next ground system
development. On June 13, 2024, NASA selected the Raytheon Company to provide three instruments,

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with an option for one additional instrument, and related services for the mission. Congress may debate
the amount and timing of Landsat Next funding and may provide oversight of mission administration and
progress.

Author Information

Anna E. Normand

Specialist in Natural Resources Policy

Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff
to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of
Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of
information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role.
CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United
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as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the
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