Multispectral Scanner


The Multispectral Scanner is one of the Earth's observing sensors introduced in the Landsat program. A Multispectral Scanner was placed aboard each of the first five Landsat satellites.
The scanner was designed at Hughes Aerospace by Virginia Norwood. Her design called for a six band scanner, but the first one launched had only four bands. For her work on the design Norwood is called "The Mother of Landsat."

MSS technical specifications

Sensor typeSpatial ResolutionSpectral RangeNumber of BandsTemporal ResolutionImage SizeSwath
opto-mechanical68 m X 83 m 0.5 - 1.1 μm4, 5 18 days, 16 days 185 km X 185 km185 km