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... > Instruments > Earth Remote Sensing Instruments > Passive Remote Sensing > Spectrometers/Radiometers > Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers > MSS

Preferred term

MSS  

Definition

  • The Multispectral Scanner (MSS) sensors were line scanning devices observing the Earth perpendicular to the orbital track. The cross-track scanning was accomplished by an oscillating mirror; six lines were scanned simultaneously in each of the four spectral bands for each mirror sweep. The forward motion of the satellite provided the along-track scan line progression. The first five Landsats carried the MSS sensor which responded to Earth-reflected sunlight in four spectral bands. Landsat 3 carried an MSS sensor with an additional band, designated band 8, that responded to thermal (heat) infrared radiation. An MSS scene had an Instantaneous Field Of View (IFOV) of 68 meters in the cross-track direction by 83 meters in the along-track direction (223.0 by 272.3 feet respectively). To understand this concept consider a ground scene composed of a single 83 by 83 meter area. The scan monitor sensor ensures that the cross-track optical scan is 185 km at nominal altitude regardless of mirror scan nonlinearity or other perturbations of mirror velocity. Cross- track image velocity was nominally 6.82 meters per microsecond. After 9.958 microseconds, the 83 by 83 meter image has moved 67.9 meters. The sample taken at this instant represented 15 meters of previous information and 68 meters of new information. Therefore, the effective IFOV of the MSS detector in the cross-track direction was considered to be 68 meters which corresponds to a nominal picture element (pixel) ground area of 68 by 83 meters at the satellite nadir point. Using the effective IFOV in area calculation eliminates the overlap in area between adjacent pixels. [Summary provided by NASA.] Group: Instrument_Details Entry_ID: MSS Group: Instrument_Identification Instrument_Category: Earth Remote Sensing Instruments Instrument_Class: Passive Remote Sensing Instrument_Type: Spectrometers/Radiometers Instrument_Subtype: Imaging Spectrometers/Radiometers Short_Name: MSS Long_Name: Multispectral Scanner End_Group Group: Associated_Platforms Short_Name: LANDSAT-5 Short_Name: LANDSAT-4 Short_Name: LANDSAT-2 Short_Name: LANDSAT-1 Short_Name: LANDSAT-3 End_Group Group: Spectral_Frequency_Information Wavelength_Keyword: Visible Spectral_Frequency_Coverage_Range: 0.5 μm -0.6 μm End_Group Group: Spectral_Frequency_Information Wavelength_Keyword: Visible Spectral_Frequency_Coverage_Range: 0.6 μm -0.7 μm End_Group Group: Spectral_Frequency_Information Wavelength_Keyword: Near Infrared Spectral_Frequency_Coverage_Range: 0.7 -0.8 μm End_Group Group: Spectral_Frequency_Information Wavelength_Keyword: Near Infrared Spectral_Frequency_Coverage_Range: 0.8 μm -1.1 μm End_Group Online_Resource: http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/mss.html Sample_Image: http://ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov/satellite_missions/slr_sats_pics/resurs01.gif Creation_Date: 2007-02-06 Group: Instrument_Logistics Instrument_Start_Date: 1972-07-23 Instrument_Owner: NASA End_Group End_Group (en)

Broader concept

URI

https://gcmd.earthdata.nasa.gov/kms/concept/0c5b0ed1-205b-497d-84b5-9ea87b5ad7b1

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