Landsat 6, equipped with upgraded versions of the instruments on
Landsat 5
Landsat 5 was a low Earth orbit satellite launched on March 1, 1984, to collect imagery of the surface of Earth. A continuation of the Landsat Program, Landsat 5 was jointly managed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Aeronaut ...
, was designed to carry forward the
Landsat program
The Landsat program is the longest-running enterprise for acquisition of satellite imagery of Earth. It is a joint NASA / USGS program. On 23 July 1972, the Earth Resources Technology Satellite was launched. This was eventually renamed to Lan ...
. It was launched on October 5, 1993, with a
Titan II
The Titan II was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the Glenn L. Martin Company from the earlier Titan I missile. Titan II was originally designed and used as an ICBM, but was later adapted as a medium-lift space l ...
launch vehicle, but failed to reach orbit. Landsat 6 omitted the Multi-Spectral Scanner found on its predecessors, but carried an Enhanced Thematic Mapper, which improved on the previous Thematic Mapper by adding a 15m-resolution panchromatic band.
Development
The Landsat 6 satellite was built by
Martin Marietta Astro Space.
Design
Operations
The satellite was constructed from aluminum and used graphite struts. Landsat 6 had a hydrazine propulsion system. The spacecraft was powered by one solar array that had single-axis articulation and produced 1430 W. The power was stored in two NiCd batteries that had a capacity of 100 Ah. Data collected from the sensors was stored on tapes and transmitted to ground stations at 85 Mbit/s. The satellite was stabilized to 0.1 degrees in all three axes by using reaction wheels.
Sensors
The Enhanced Thematic Mapper was designed and manufactured by Santa Barbara Research Center.
Mission
Launch
Landsat 6 was launched aboard a Titan II launch vehicle from
Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg may refer to:
* Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name
* USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in Key West, Florida
* Vandenberg Sp ...
on October 5, 1993.
Operations
Landsat 6 separated from the Titan II launch vehicle as programmed, but an explosion in its liquid fuel system upon separation doomed the satellite. Martin Marietta and NOAA both convened review boards to investigate the failure. Both boards determined that Landsat 6 did not achieve orbit due to a ruptured hydrazine manifold, and recommended a task force to investigate hydrazine feed systems that were considered "safe and failure-free".
References
{{Orbital launches in 1993
Satellite launch failures
Spacecraft launched in 1993
Landsat program
Spacecraft launched by Titan rockets