Landsat 6

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Landsat 6 was an Earth-imaging satellite built for NASA and NOAA as part of the Landsat program. It used the TIROS-N satellite bus, built by Martin Marietta Astro Space, and weighed about 2,750 kg. The spacecraft had a single solar array producing around 1,430 watts and two NiCd batteries. It carried an Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM), an upgraded instrument from Landsat 5 that added a 15-meter panchromatic band; it did not include the older Multi-Spectral Scanner. Data from its sensors could be stored on tapes and transmitted back to ground stations at up to 85 Mbit/s. It was designed for a sun-synchronous orbit at about 705 km altitude with an inclination of 98.3° and a period of roughly 99 minutes, stabilized by reaction wheels.

Landsat 6 launched on October 5, 1993 from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Titan II/Star-37XFP rocket. Although it separated as planned, a rupture in its liquid-fuel system caused a hydrazine leak and the satellite exploded, so it never reached orbit. NASA and NOAA review boards investigated the failure and recommended a task force to study hydrazine feed systems for safety and reliability.