LANDSAT MSS Data held by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Brazil

INPE's only receiving station for Landsat MSS was located in Cuiaba,
MT (geographic coordinates approx. 15.5S/56.0W). Data were acquired
routinely over the entire range from 1973 until 1986, some time after
TM data began being received. MSS data recordings were then reduced to
Brazilian territory only. Also, many gaps exist, some of them several
months long, related mostly to station downtimes caused by lightning.

The MSS tapes recorded at Cuiaba were air shipped to the processing
and distribution center in Cachoeira Paulista, SP, where they are
kept. The holdings are estimated to be around 75,000 scenes (or
300,000 images, counting individually each of the four spectral
bands), not all of them processed. The fifth band (thermal infrared)
available on Landsat 3 is not counted for practical purposes. Very few
were processed at INPE with disappointing results and it was soon
dropped as a product.

Demand for MSS products decreased sharply after TM products started
being distributed. This determined the reduction and eventually the
discontinuing of MSS recordings in 1987. The original processing
system, based on 16-bit minicomputers, was dismantled in early
1991. An alternative ingestion system is being developed to allow
limited processing of MSS data by the TM system, with a forecast to be
ready in late 1998.

Meanwhile, available products are limited to reproduction of existing
photographic originals (about 150,000 black-and-white and color
images). No digital products can be delivered, since no copies were
kept from produced CCTs. Requests for products and for image search
listings are handled directly by the processing center (listed at the
Data Center entry), through contacts by mail, phone or fax. No online
remote access is available to the moment, although plans exist to
implement it, including the International Directory protocols. No firm
date is speculated for that, but hopes are that it can be made before
1998. Information about costs, delivery time and available formats can
be requested at the same address.