2009 Events
In March 2009, Landsat 5 celebrated its 25 years in orbit and was still sending back data. On August 13, 2009, Landsat 5 tumbled out of control and power fell to a critical level due to an unknown event. Landsat 5 resumed nominal operation (battery savings mode) on August 17, 2009. On December 18, 2009, the transmitter on Landsat 5 experienced technical difficulties. Data downlink was restored on January 7, 2010 after a test successfully managed to retrieve a picture over North America. This test exercised the only remaining Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier (TWTA). The remaining TWTA is in fact the primary TWTA that was in operation when Landsat 5 launched in 1984. After several issues in late 1986 and 1987, the primary TWTA was turned off and the secondary, or redundant, TWTA had been used since. The USGS Flight Operations Team were able to apply lessons learned while operating the redundant TWTA to the primary TWTA for its first successful transmission in over 22 years.
Read more about this topic: Landsat 5
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