The Landsat program was originally an experimental research project sponsored by the US Department of Defense and NASA and has been an operation satellite program since the 1970s. There have been six Landsats launched to date, the first three are no longer operational and the sixth failed to achieve orbit. The remaining satellites, Landsats-4 and -5, are the platforms for two imaging sensors: MSS and TM. The newest member of the family, Landsat-7, was launched in April 1999, and carries an Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+). ETM+ is similar to TM, but has a higher spatial resolution thermal channel and includes a new panchromatic channel. These satellites have a polar, circular, sun-synchronous 705-km orbit with a 16-day repeat cycle. The TM swath width is 185 km.
On 31 May, 2003, an instrument problem onboard the satellite was caused by a failure of the Scan Line Corrector (SLC). This corrector, which corrects for the forward motion of the satellite, seems to be permanent. The failure affects ETM+ products, although it is now possible to purchase data with the SLC turned off; this is particularly important if the imagery needed occurs within the central portion of a specific scene. For more information about the "SLC-off" mode, check out the U.S.G.S. website.
| Band | Wavelength Region (µm) | Resolution (m) |
| 1 | 0.5-0.6 (green) | 80 |
| 2 | 0.6-0.7 (red) | 80 |
| 3 | 0.7-0.8 (red - near-IR) | 80 |
| 4 | 0.8-1.0 (near-IR) | 80 |
| Band | Wavelength Region (µm) | Resolution (m) |
| 1 | 0.45-0.52 (blue) | 30 |
| 2 | 0.52-0.60 (green) | 30 |
| 3 | 0.63-0.69 (red) | 30 |
| 4 | 0.76-0.90 (near-IR) | 30 |
| 5 | 1.55-1.75 (mid-IR) | 30 |
| 6 | 10.4-12.5 (thermal-IR) | 120 |
| 7 | 2.08-2.35 (mid-IR) | 30 |
| Band | Wavelength Region (µm) | Resolution (m) |
| 1 | 0.450-0.515 (blue) | 30 |
| 2 | 0.525-0.605 (green) | 30 |
| 3 | 0.630-0.690 (red) | 30 |
| 4 | 0.750-0.900 (near-IR) | 30 |
| 5 | 1.55-1.75 (mid-IR) | 30 |
| 6 | 10.4-12.5 (thermal-IR) | 60 |
| 7 | 2.08-2.35 (mid-IR) | 30 |
| PAN | 0.52-0.90 | 15 |
Landsat TM and MSS data can be searched and ordered through the following:
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