In news- Earth observation satellite of NASA, Landsat 9, was successfully launched.
About the satellite-
- It is a joint mission with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
- It will provide data and imagery to help make science-based decisions on key issues including water use, wildfire impacts, coral reef degradation, glacier and ice-shelf retreat, and tropical deforestation.
- The first Landsat satellite was launched in 1972.
- Since then, NASA has always kept a Landsat in orbit to collect images of the physical material covering earth’s surface and changes to land usage.
- Landsat 9 joins its sister satellite, Landsat 8, in orbit.
- Working in tandem, the two satellites will collect images spanning the entire planet every eight days.
- The instruments aboard Landsat 9 are the Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2).
Source: The Hindu
