Frequently Asked Questions about the Landsat Missions

Question:
How are the non-functioning detectors on Landsat 4 handled in processing?

Answer:

On Landsat 4, the TM detector 4 in band 2 (B2D4) and the TM detector 3 in band 5 (B5D3) were inoperable at launch, making the pixel values for these detectors useless. The Landsat Archive Conversion System (LACS), which transcribes the data, does not make any changes to these values. The National Landsat Archive and Production System (NLAPS), which creates customer products, does the following:

Pixels in B2D4 are replaced with pixel values from B2D5
Pixels in B5D3 are replaced with pixel values from B5D4

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U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://landsat.usgs.gov
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Page Last Modified: November 24, 2009
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