Landsat 5

Landsat 5
Artist's rendering of Landsat 5.
Mission typeEarth imaging
OperatorNASA / NOAA
COSPAR ID1984-021A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.14780
Mission duration29 years, 3 months and 4 days
Spacecraft properties
BusMultimission Modular Spacecraft
ManufacturerFairchild Industries
Launch mass1,938 kilograms (4,273 lb)
Dry mass1,407 kilograms (3,102 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date1 March 1984 (1984-03)
RocketDelta 3920
Launch siteVandenberg SLC-2W
End of mission
DisposalPlaced in graveyard orbit
Deactivated5 June 2013 (2013-06-06)
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeSun-synchronous
Perigee altitude694 kilometers (431 mi)
Apogee altitude701 kilometers (436 mi)
Inclination98.2 degrees
Period98.72 minutes
Repeat interval16 days
Epoch1 April 1984[1]

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 Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Data from Landsat 5 was collected and distributed from the USGS's Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS).

After 29 years in space, Landsat 5 was officially decommissioned on June 5, 2013.[2] Near the end of its mission, Landsat 5's use was hampered by equipment failures, and it was largely superseded by Landsat 7 and Landsat 8.[2] Mission scientists anticipated the satellite will re-enter Earth's atmosphere and disintegrate around 2034.[2]

Recognized by Guinness World Records as the longest-operating Earth-observing satellite mission in history, Landsat 5 orbited the planet more than 150,000 times while transmitting more than 2.5 million images of land surface conditions around the world, greatly outliving its original three-year design life.[3]

  1. ^ McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
  2. ^ a b c Historic Landsat 5 Mission Ends
  3. ^ "Historic Landsat 5 Mission Ends". NASA. June 24, 2013. Retrieved March 8, 2018.