EO Vista Completes Instrument Study for NASA’s Next-Generation Earth Observation Satellites

EO Vista, a designer of sensor systems, announced that it has completed an instrument study for NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landsat Next program.

NASA’s next-generation Earth observation imaging satellites are expected to include twice as many spectral bands as the current Landsat 9, allowing them to measure up to 25 spectral bands and unlock applications for water quality, plant stress, snow cover, soil health and others, according to the agency’s website.

EO Vista said that its study was focused on identifying Landsat Next’s driving requirements, minimizing the future satellite’s profile and cost and creating a low-risk schedule for the program. Another goal is to lower the revisit time for every point on Earth from sixteen days to eight, EO Vista said Thursday.

The company said it has also developed a sensor system architecture to meet the performance needs of Landsat Next. Designated EOV-LN, the architecture is expected to give Landsat Next a greater system sensitivity and spatial resolution and twice the global refresh rate compared to the previous generation.

EO Vista said that the combination of the new architecture with modern technologies will enable greater performance at a fraction of the cost of legacy systems.

Steven Wein, president and founder of EO Vista, said that the Landsat program has supported the scientific community for nearly five decades and has become more important amid efforts to address climate change.