Ball Aerospace has delivered the flight cryocooler of the TIRS-2 instrument, which will be flown onboard Nasa’s Landsat 9 satellite to the US-based Goddard Space Flight Centre (GSFC).

The delivery was made ahead of schedule and has provided additional time and options to GSFC while integrating and testing the instrument.

Once launched, the TIRS-2 will supply two-band thermal imaging data to measure surface temperature and track land and water usage.

“Our cryocooler will enable Landsat 9 to take precise and efficient imagery while maintaining stable temperatures.”

The cryocooler is designed to allow TIRS-2 to cool the focal plane and the surrounding enclosure to maintain the sensitivity required for imaging.

Development of the TIRS-2 flight cryocooler is based on Ball’s existing Stirling Cryocoolers range.

The two-stage cryocooler features two cryogenic control electronics (CCEs), including one redundancy switch electronics (RSE), a thermomechanical unit (TMU) and a flight harness set.

Ball Aerospace civil space vice-president and general manager Jim Oschmann said: “Ball has a rich heritage in remote sensing capabilities, which has aided in the development and delivery of the TIRS-2 flight cryocooler instrument.

“Our cryocooler will enable Landsat 9 to take precise and efficient imagery while maintaining stable temperatures.”

The Landsat 9 satellite will form a part of the existing Landsat Earth-observing satellite constellation, which has been providing multispectral imagery from space to help scientists understand the impact of human activity and natural events on Earth.

The Landsat constellation has also been assisting in constant monitoring of land changes.

Nasa has scheduled the launch of the Landsat 9 satellite by 2020.

In addition to the TIRS-2, the satellite will be equipped with the Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) instrument.