--Technical Contacts:
USGS--R.J. Thompson (605) 594-6161
NOAA--Jim Elliickson (301) 457-5210
NASA--George Komar (gkomar@pop100.gsfc.nasa.gov), (301)
286-0007
The Federal government has established prices for basic image-data products that will be available from the Landsat 7 Earth-observation satellite scheduled for launch in July 1998.
Approximately 90 days after the satellite is launched, minimally-processed Level Zero R full-scene digital products, covering 115 x 105 miles (185 x 170 km), will be available from the U.S. Geological Survey's EROS Data Center (EDC) near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, at $475 each. A Level Zero R product is a reformatted raw digital image acquired by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) instrument on Landsat-7. Reformatting includes re-establishing the order of the reversed scan-mirror data, aligning the staggered sensor detectors, and nominally aligning the forward and reverse scans. Image data are not radiometrically corrected, pixels are not resampled, and pixels are not registered to a map projection for a Level Zero R product; however, each image product includes the associated metadata and calibration parameter file.
Current plans call for full scenes that have been corrected for sensor effects and spacecraft geometry (Level One processing) to become available from the Sioux Falls site in limited quantities within a year after launch, at a price not to exceed $600 each. Two choices will be available at Level One:
Prices for data products from Landsat-7 were established by the three agencies partnering in management of the Landsat Program: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Department of the Interior's U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). With the objective of providing these basic data products at the lowest possible cost, the agencies will review the prices annually and publish any changes each year that the satellite is in operation. Value-added film and digital products are expected to become available from commercial vendors.
Landsat-7 will provide the data continuity that began with its program predecessors 25 years ago. Throughout this period, Landsat data have been used worldwide by the scientific community, government agencies, commercial enterprises, educational institutions, and private citizens for observation and analysis of land cover and land-cover change.
The primary mission of Landsat-7 is to acquire and periodically refresh a global archive of daytime, generally cloud-free images of land and coastal areas. Landsat-7 will capture and transmit approximately 250 full scenes per day to the primary U.S. receiving station at EDC. Within 24 hours after ground reception of data, users will have electronic access to information about each day's acquisitions. The Sioux Falls facility will have a 100-scenes-per-day processing and distribution capacity„initially at Level Zero R and later including Level One, at an initial capacity of 25 scenes per day.
General information on Landsat-7 is available through the Landsat Gateway Web page at http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/; a detailed description of the Level Zero R product format can be found at http://ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/IAS/htmls/17_review.html.