Introduction to the Landsat Next Imager Suite (LandIS)

In July 2024, NASA and USGS awarded the development contract for the Landsat Next Imaging Suite (LandIS). This instrument represents an evolutionary leap beyond the previous Landsat 8/9 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) instruments, doubling the spectral coverage from 412 nanometers to 12 microns and improving spatial resolution by up to a factor of three with 10m-60m ground sample distance. The Landsat Next constellation will utilize three identical LandIS instruments in concert to get three times better temporal coverage than Landsat 8/9, providing new insights into patterns that may have been missed in prior missions due to timing of image collection or image fidelity. These increased capabilities will provide new insight into water quality, crop production, soil conservation, forest management, mineral mapping, and climate change impacts . This presentation describes the LandIS preliminary design, provides an overview of development plans, and summarizes the new capabilities provided by the instrument.