Evolutionary Advances
Landsat 8 instruments represent an evolutionary advance in technology. OLI improves on past Landsat sensors using a technical approach demonstrated by a sensor flown on NASA’s experimental EO-1 satellite. OLI is a push-broom sensor with a four-mirror telescope and 12-bit quantization. OLI collects data for visible, near infrared, and short wave infrared spectral bands as well as a panchromatic band. It has a five-year design life. The graphic below compares the OLI spectral bands to Landsat 7′s ETM+ bands. OLI provides two new spectral bands, one tailored especially for detecting cirrus clouds and the other for coastal zone observations.