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January 23, 2025

The USGS’s International Cooperators team held the Landsat Ground Station Operators Working Group (LGSOWG) #52 meeting in Canberra, Australia late last year. 

Participants representing 9 organizations and 8 countries from across the Landsat International Cooperator Network gathered in Canberra, Australia, to meet on a variety of topics related to the Landsat Program and to discuss technical aspects of the worldwide Landsat ground station operations.  

The attendees of the Landsat Ground Station Operators Working Group (LGSOWG) #52 meeting in Canberra, Australia November 2024
Attendees at Landsat Ground Station Operators Working Group #52 represent Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Norway, and the United States.

A presentation about Landsat Calibration/Validation at a recent meeting
Esad Micijevic, an instrument calibration engineer at USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, presents a status of the on-orbit performance for the  Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) onboard Landsat 9. 

USGS personnel briefed attendees on the operational status of the Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 missions, their respective on-orbit instrument performance, and delivered updates on Landsat data processing, distribution and access. 

Additionally, each international agency presented highlights about their current ground station operations and real-time Landsat use case applications. They also shared updates related to their future ground station plans and enhancements in support of next generation ground station operations and new mission capabilities.

The meetings’ week-long agenda also included several discussions focused on current and emerging ground station operations topics and challenges. Participants discussed best practices and lessons learned related to ground station automation and the future of ground station architecture, data processing and archiving modernization, and data processing in a cloud framework. 

The meeting provided the opportunity for International Cooperator Network partners to have in-depth discussions with the USGS on where efficiencies could be gained in the future through potential bilateral or multi-agency collaboration, in support of the Landsat 2030 International Partnership Initiative. The 2030 Initiative focuses on the Landsat Next Earth observation satellite mission and will build on Landsat’s 52-year data record enabling users to record, study, understand and better manage landscape change at local, regional and global scales. The Landsat Next mission will provide a new and improved capability for the next generation of users, with higher spatial resolution, twice the current number of spectral bands and improved local revisit times.

Group Visits Local Facilities

During the week, attendees had the opportunity to visit two facilities managed by the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). 

At the agency headquarters located in Canberra, attendees received a special briefing on CSIRO’s AquaWatch Australia program and watched a demonstration of the CSIRO Pyrotron and the CSIRO Vertical Wind Tunnel located in the National Bushfire Behaviour Research Laboratory. Wildfires are a powerful force, reshaping landscapes in hours. Attendees were briefed on how Landsat satellites have been tracking these fires for decades, helping scientists understand and manage wildfire risk, map burned areas, and monitor ecosystem recovery.

meeting attendees listening to a presenter
LGSOWG #52 attendees tour the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) Vertical Wind Tunnel. 

Later in the week, attendees visited the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex (CDSCC) located at Tidbinbilla. DSCC is part of the NASA Deep Space Network and is the giant planetary switchboard that helps dozens of distant spacecrafts communicate with teams of engineers and scientists on Earth.

meeting attendees listening to a presentation
LGSOWG #52 attendees listen to a presenter while on the tour of the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex (DSCC).

The network of antennas and dishes relays messages from missions such as Voyager 1 and the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR). Voyager 1 launched in 1977 and is still sending signals back from interstellar space, some 22 billion kilometers (14 billion miles) away. DSCOVR takes full-disc images of Earth from 1.6 million kilometers (1 million miles) away.

 

Background image: An antenna at Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex (DSCC).

Antenna at Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex

For more information on the Landsat International Cooperator Network and the benefits of real-time Landsat data reception, visit the Landsat International Cooperator Network webpage. 

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