Miles Jamison 
- Raytheon has advanced NASA’s Landsat Next mission with a successful preliminary design review
- The LandIS technology is designed to capture sharper and more detailed Earth data
- Landsat Next is intended to be a 26-band satellite constellation
Raytheon, an RTX business, has completed the preliminary design review for NASA’s Landsat Next Instrument Suite, or LandIS, advancing development of multispectral imaging technologies for the agency’s future Earth observation mission.
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What Did the Design Review Cover?
The company said Monday the design review confirmed its technical approach and validated the engineering design of its instruments, algorithms and multispectral imager. Raytheon expects the imager to deliver more than twice the current spatial resolution while capturing double the spectral bands, providing higher-quality data for users.
How Will LandIS Support Earth Observation Missions?
The instrument’s superspectral imaging capability is intended to enhance data quality for applications including water quality and aquatic health monitoring, crop production optimization, soil conservation, forest management and climate and snow dynamics research.
What Is the Landsat Next Program?
The Landsat Next program is a joint mission of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey designed as a 26-band satellite constellation for monitoring water quality, climate, agriculture and land surface changes. It provides the longest continuous space-based record of Earth’s land surface, delivering essential data to support informed decisions about the planet’s natural resources and environmental conditions.
The design review follows NASA’s 2024 award of a $506.7 million contract to Raytheon for the design, fabrication, testing and delivery of instruments for the Landsat Next program.
