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This Day, That Year – March 5

Sun 05 Mar 2023    
EcoBalance
| 2 min read

This day in history we feature the Landsat 3. The satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on this day in 1978.

Trivia – Landsat 3

Landsat 3 is the third satellite of the Landsat program. It was launched with the primary goal of providing a global archive of satellite imagery. Unlike later Landsat satellites, Landsat 3 was managed solely by NASA. Landsat 3 decommissioned on September 7, 1983, beyond its design life of one year. The data collected during Landsat 3’s lifetime was used by 31 countries. Countries that cannot afford their own satellite are able to use the data for ecological preservation efforts and to determine the location of natural resources.

Related read – Satellite pollution threatens the night sky view

The first satellite of the Landsat program, Landsat 1 (originally designated ERTA-1), took and transmitted over 100,000 photos during its lifetime. Landsat 3 was built by GE Aerospace. The objective of Landsat 3 was to extend the period of space data acquisition for Earth resources by Landsat 1 and Landsat 2. Landsat 3 was to obtain information on agricultural and forestry resources, geology and mineral resources, hydrology and water resources, geography, cartography, environmental pollution, oceanography and marine resources, and meteorological phenomena. The data from Landsat 3 was used by over 400 programs in 31 countries. Countries that could not afford their own satellite used the data to discover and monitor resources that they would have not been capable of otherwise. For example, Bolivia spent $10,000 on data which was used to discover vast lithium deposits, while United States companies have invested more than $136 million for further exploration. Kenya used the data to monitor grazing conditions and to help lion and cheetah preservation efforts, and Pakistan used the data to decide where to dredge the river delta to build a new port. Specific locations for Landsat 3’s data can be found by using the World Reference System (WRS). To find any specific location on Earth, a row and path number are required; for example, Row 60 is at the equator. Landsat 1-3 use WRS-1, but Landsats 4 and after used WRS-2.

Source – Wikipedia


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