Multispectral Scanner

The Multispectral Scanner (MSS) 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.^[1]

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."^[2]

MSS technical specifications

Sensor type	Spatial Resolution	Spectral Range	Number of Bands	Temporal Resolution	Image Size	Swath
opto-mechanical	68 m X 83 m (or 57 m)	0.5 - 1.1 μm	4, 5 (Landsat 3 only)	18 days (L1-L3), 16 days (L4 & L5)	185 km X 185 km	185 km