A Boeing Delta II carried NASA's Landsat 7 remote-sensing satellite into orbit from Vandenberg AFB, California, on 15 April, a year later than planned. The satellite's Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus camera will produce 250 30m-resolution multispectral images a day. The launch had been delayed by electrical problems with the thematic mapper.
With the Landsat 7 in orbit, NASA is seeking proposals for a low cost advanced imaging technology to enhance earth-observing satellites' performance.
A new lightweight synthetic aperture radar mission, called LightSAR, will open up commercial opportunities for the US remote-sensing satellite industry, according to the US space agency.
NASA has also selected four ideas for further study in its Earth Observing 3 (EO3) mission for the New Millennium programme. These are active large- aperture optical systems, to provide high-resolution thermal imaging from geosynchronous orbit; a geostationary synthetic aperture microwave sounder; a geostationary imaging Fourier-transforming spectrometer; and a geostationary tropospheric trace-gas imager.
The EO1, to be launched in December, will be an advanced land imager system. The EO2 will fly as an infrared laser in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle in 2001.
Source: Flight International
