Landsat 3 is the third satellite of the Landsat program. It was launched on
March 5th, 1978, with the primary goal of providing a global archive of
satellite photos. Unlike later Landsats, Landsat 3 was managed solely by NASA.
Landsat 3 is no longer in operation, due to technical failure. It finally
ceased transmission on March 21st 1983, far beyond its designed life expectancy
of one year.
Landsat 3 had essentially the same design as Landsat 2. It carried a
Multi-Spectral Scanner, which had a maximum 75m resolution. Unlike the previous
two Landsat missions a thermal band was built into Landsat 3, but this
instrument failed shortly after the satellite was deployed. [2] Landsat 3 was
placed into a polar orbit at about 920 kilometers, and took 18 days to cover
the entire Earth's surface.
[Summary provided by NASA.]
Group: Platform_Details
Entry_ID: LANDSAT-3
Group: Platform_Identification
Platform_Category: Earth Observation Satellites
Platform_Series_or_Entity: LANDSAT
Short_Name: LANDSAT-3
End_Group
Group: Platform_Associated_Instruments
Short_Name: MSS
Short_Name: RBV
End_Group
Group: Orbit
Orbit_Altitude: 900 km
Orbit_Inclination: 99.2 degree
Equator_Crossing: 9:42 AM mean local time
Period: 103 minutes
Repeat_Cycle: 18 days
Orbit_Type: LEO > Low Earth Orbit > Polar Sun-Synchronous
End_Group
Creation_Date: 2007-02-01
Online_Resource: http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/L3_td.html
Sample_Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Landsat3.jpg/200px-Landsat3.jpg
Group: Platform_Logistics
Launch_Date: 1978-03-05
Launch_Site: Vandenberg AFB
Design_Life: 1 Year
Primary_Sponsor: NASA
Primary_Sponsor: USGS
End_Group
End_Group (en)