"The Landsat 7 Mission: Early Results and Future Plans "
The successful launch of Landsat-7 on April 15, 1999 ushered
in a new era in land remote sensing. The Landsat mission, now over
27 years in duration, introduced technical innovations in precise numerical
radiometry, spectral differentiation and seasonally repetitive monitoring
in the land sciences. Significant progress in realizing the scientific
potential of the measurements is reflected in the Landsat-7 mission.
Substantial improvements in calibration procedures, both prior to launch
and normal operations, have been accomplished to insure long-term stability
in the acquired spectral radiometry. For the first time, Landsat-7
will be operated with a ong-term acquisition plan that insures, baring
national emergencies, that substantially cloud-free, seasonal coverage
will be recorded (in the US archives) for all land areas. In addition,
NASA competitively selected a Landsat Science Team, made of representatives
from US universities and government agencies to pursue scientific exploitation
of the Landsat-7 observation record. This team is addressing the
technical and analytical means to process and analyze the core of this
observation record. For the first time in the history of the Landsat
mission the technical and operational aspects of the mission are being
driven by the goals of the US science community. The expected outcome
of these efforts is a rapid improvement in our understanding the Earth
system as well as development of conceptual knowledge that will underpin
commercial exploitation of this US-developed technology.