Lacy G. Cook

Design concept for a Landsat-class imaging spectrometer with well-corrected spectral fidelity

This paper describes a design concept for a Landsat-class imaging spectrometer. The challenge is to match the Landsat data parameters, including a 185 kilometer swath and a 30 meter ground sample distance (GSD) from a 705 km sun-synchronous orbit with a sensor which has contiguous spectral coverage of the solar reflected spectrum (400 to 2500 nanometers). The result is a dual purpose remote sensing satellite that provides global access imaging spectrometer data sets as well as fulfilling the needs of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission. Key features of the design include (1) high signal-to-noise ratio, (2) well corrected spectral fidelity across a 6000 pixel pushbroom field-of-view, (3) real-time simulation of Thematic Mapper bands 1-5, and 7 for direct continuous downlink and (4) straightforward calibration of the data to units of absolute spectral radiance.