U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2019–3008 

ver. 1.1, May 2019

Landsat 9

 Quick Facts

Science instruments: OLI–2; TIRS–2

OLI–2 built by: Ball Aerospace & Technology 

Corporation

TIRS–2 built by: NASA Goddard Space Flight 

Center

Design life: 5 years

Spacecraft provider: Northrop Grumman

Image data: About 750 scenes per day

Target launch date: December 2020

Launch vehicle: United Launch Alliance Atlas 

V 401

Orbit: Near-polar, sun-synchronous at an altitude 

of 438 miles (705 kilometers)

Orbital inclination: 98.2 degrees

Spacecraft speed: 16,760 miles per hour 

(26,972 kilometers per hour),

Consumables: 10+ years

Landsat 9 is a partnership between 

the National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA) and the 

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that will 

continue the Landsat program’s critical 

role of repeat global observations for 

monitoring, understanding, and managing Earth’s natural resources. Since 1972, 

Landsat data have provided a unique 

resource for those who work in agriculture, geology, forestry, regional planning, 

education, mapping, and global-change 

research. Landsat images have also 

proved invaluable to the International 

Charter: Space and Major Disasters, supporting emergency response and disaster 

relief to save lives. With the addition of 

Landsat 9, the Landsat program’s record 

of land imaging will be extended to over 

half a century.

Landsat 9 Spacecraft and Launch 

Components

The Landsat 9 spacecraft and 

instruments are being developed towards 

a launch-readiness date of December 

2020 (fig. 1). Landsat 9, like previous 

missions, will be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, onboard 

a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 

rocket. Landsat 9 will carry the Operational Land Imager–2 (OLI–2), built by 

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation, Boulder, Colorado, and the Thermal 

Infrared Sensor–2 (TIRS–2), built at the 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 

Greenbelt, Maryland. Northrop Grumman 

is designing and fabricating the spacecraft and will be responsible for integrating the two instruments.

NASA is responsible for the space 

segment (instruments and spacecraft/

observatory), mission integration, launch, 

and on-orbit checkout. The U.S. Department of the Interior/USGS is responsible 

for the ground system, flight operations, 

data processing, and data product distribution after NASA completes on-orbit 

checkout.

After launch, Landsat 9 will move 

into the current orbit of Landsat 7, which 

has sufficient fuel to operate into 2021, 

and will subsequently be decommissioned. Landsat 9 will image the Earth 

every 16 days in an 8-day offset with 

Landsat 8. Landsat 9 will collect as many 

as 750 scenes per day, and with Landsat 8, the two satellites will add nearly 

1,500 new scenes a day to the USGS 

Landsat archive. Landsat 9 will increase 

the volume of the USGS archive by 

imaging all global landmasses and nearshore coastal regions, including islands 

at solar elevation angles greater than 

5 degrees that were not always routinely 

collected prior to Landsat 8.

Phase A

Key decision 

point D

Key decision 

point E

Launch

Key decision 

point B

Key decision 

point C

Phase C

Launch

+3 months:

Operational data

collection begins

Landsat 9 design life: 

5 years

End of 

consumables:

10 years

Thermal Infrared Sensor–2 (TIRS–2) Instrument development

Operational Land Imaging Sensor–2 (OLI–2) Instrument development

Spacecraft development

Ground system and operations development

Observatory 

integration 

and testing

Phase B Phase D

Phase E

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Figure 1. A timeline of Landsat 9 mission development and lifecycle. Image modified from NASA Landsat; used with permission.

Printed on recycled paper
Landsat 9 Instruments

The instruments onboard Landsat 9 

are improved replicas of those currently 

collecting data onboard Landsat 8, which 

are already providing data that is radiometrically and geometrically superior 

than instruments on previous generation 

Landsat satellites.

The OLI–2 will capture observations of the Earth’s surface in visible, 

near-infrared, and shortwave-infrared 

bands (table 1; fig. 2) with an improved 

radiometric precision (14-bit quantization 

increased from 12 bits for Landsat 8), 

slightly improving overall signal to noise 

ratio. The TIRS–2 will measure the 

thermal infrared radiation, or heat, of the 

Earth’s surface with two bands that have 

improved performance over Landsat 8’s 

thermal bands (table 1; fig. 2). Both 

OLI–2 and TIRS–2 have a 5-year mission 

design life, although the spacecraft has 

10+ years of consumables.

Landsat 9 Data Products

Data acquired by Landsat 9 will be 

consistent with currently archived data 

in terms of acquisition geometry, calibration, coverage, and spectral characteristics. All Landsat 9 data products will 

continue to be made available for download through the USGS Earth Resources 

Observation and Science (EROS) Center 

at no charge.

Table 1. Landsat 9 Operational Land Imager–2 and Thermal Infrared Sensor–2 spectral 

bands.

Spectral band Wavelength,

in micrometers

Resolution,

in meters

Operational Land Imager–2

Band 1—Ultra blue (coastal/aerosol) 0.435–0.451 30

Band 2—Blue 0.452–0.512 30

Band 3—Green 0.533–0.590 30

Band 4—Red 0.636–0.673 30

Band 5—Near infrared (NIR) 0.851–0.879 30

Band 6—Shortwave infrared (SWIR) 1 1.566–1.651 30

Band 7—Shortwave infrared (SWIR) 2 2.107–2.294 30

Band 8—Panchromatic 0.503–0.676 15

Band 9—Cirrus 1.363–1.384 30

Thermal Infrared Sensor–2

Band 10—Thermal infrared (TIR) 1 10.60–11.19 100a

Band 11—Thermal infrared (TIR) 2 11.50–12.51 100a

a

Thermal bands are acquired at 100 meters resolution but are resampled to 30 meters.

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MSS

OLI/

OLI–2

TIRS/

TIRS–2

ETM+

TM

Wavelength, in nanometers

400

Atmospheric transmission, in percent

0

1

1

1

1° 2° 3° 4°

2

2

2

3

3

3

4

4

4

5

5

5

9

6 7

6

6

10 11

7

7

8

8

100

900 1,400 1,900 2,400 10,000 11,000 12,000 13,000

Figure 2. Comparison of Landsat 9’s spectral band regions with Landsat 1–5 Multispectral 

Scanner System (MSS), Landsat 4-5 Thematic Mapper (TM), and Landsat 7 Enhanced 

Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+). The atmospheric transmission values for this graphic 

were calculated using the MODerate resolution atmospheric TRANsmission model for a 

summertime midlatitude hazy atmosphere (circa 5-kilometer visibility). Numbered rectangles 

indicate the band number for that particular instrument. Image modified from NASA Landsat; 

used with permission.

For More Information

For additional information or to learn 

more about Landsat 9, please visit the 

USGS or NASA websites at https://usgs.

gov/landsat or https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.

gov/.

Visit https://www.usgs.gov/ for more 

information about the USGS and https://

www.usgs.gov/land-resources/nationalland-imaging-program for specifics about 

the National Land Imaging Program.

Questions about Landsat operations, data products, and data access can be directed to:

Landsat User Services

U.S. Geological Survey

Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

47914 252d Street

Sioux Falls, SD 57198

Phone: 605–594–6151 or 1–800–252–4547

Email: custserv@usgs.gov

Twitter: @USGSLandsat

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NASA.Landsat

ISSN 2327-6916 (print)

ISSN 2327-6932 (online)

https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20193008