Land Surface Temperature Monitoring (LSTM) is an ESA mission developed by Airbus Defence and Space, set to join the Copernicus Sentinel system in 2028. The satellite will carry a high spatial-temporal resolution thermal infrared (TIR) sensor to provide observations of land-surface temperature. The spectral range of TIR 8 - 12.5 μm, complemented by bands in the visible and NIR.

A test campaign has been set-up in ESTEC's Materials lab, to assess the effect of contamination, representing the Cold Optical Bench and Telescope assemblies of the spacecraft.

The test is aimed to monitor any transmittance loss of characteristic sensitive surfaces – kept at cryogenic temperatures –, due to contamination by outgassing of major contributors of the assemblies in the active wavelength range of thermal infrared sensor. The monitoring is performed in-situ, using TEC-QEE's Yuta facility.