Landsat Next Defined

Landsat Next Defined

June 29, 2023

Landsat Next is on the horizon—the new mission will not only ensure continuity of the longest space-based record of Earth’s land surface, it will fundamentally transform the breadth and depth of actionable information freely available to end users. Take a look at the new capabilities that will define the next Landsat mission.

Read More »
Landsat Next Defined

Landsat Next Defined

June 29, 2023

Landsat Next is on the horizon—the new mission will not only ensure continuity of the longest space-based record of Earth’s land surface, it will fundamentally transform the breadth and depth of actionable information freely available to end users. Take a look at the new capabilities that will define the next Landsat mission.

Read More »

“The Landsat program doesn’t produce images like the ones of astronauts playing golf on the moon nor geologists scaling an erupting volcano, but it has created one of the most important scientific repositories of data ever made.”


— Robinson Meyer , Apr 16, 2015
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“There should be no competition between satellite remote sensing and fieldwork, there should only be collaborations.”


— Nathalie Pettorelli, Zoological Society of London , Jun 10, 2015
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“The Landsat archive and other remote sensing systems provide the means to map and measure disturbance rates of the last 40 years.”


— Jeff Masek, Landsat 9 Project Scientist , Apr 27, 2018
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“A half-century archive of Landsat’s Earth observations is a magnificent achievement in the history of science. This fifty-year record gives scientists a consistent baseline that can be used to track climate change and enables them to see changes to the land that might not otherwise be noticed.”


— Tanya Trujillo, Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, U.S. Department of the Interior , Aug 11, 2022
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“The value of Landsat data is internationally recognized as indispensable to science, natural resource management, commerce, security, foreign policy, agriculture, and education.”


— National Geospatial Advisory Committee, Landsat Advisory Group , Sep 18, 2012
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“The Landsat satellite program has provided images of the Earth’s surface for more than 40 years, and so it is ideal for documenting long-term changes in ecosystems such as giant kelp forests.”


— Kyle Cavanaugh, kelpwatch.org lead scientist; UCLA , Apr 4, 2022
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“Anything that’s historic, it’s got to be Landsat. In temporal depth, Landsat is really the only game in town.”


— Mike Wulder, Canadian Forest Service, on historical land use change , Jan 16, 2018
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“Landsat is the only operational satellite that combines thermal and optical data at the spatial resolution needed to assess water use and water rights, which is often at the level of individual agricultural fields.”


— OpenET website , Jun 1, 2023
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“Landsat and SRTM are my eyes on the ground. Without them I am totally blind. They are great gifts to humanity.”


— Alain Gachet, Radar Technologies International founder and modern humanitarian water diviner , Jan 28, 2015
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“We’ve got this data of every field, of every country…. the archive is just going to continue to yield good information, good science, better management, reduce costs. It’s incredible.”


— John Schott, Rochester Institute of Technology, on the Landsat archive , Jan 9, 2018
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“Usage rocketed in 2008, when Landsat made its images free. More than a million images were downloaded in the first year, compared with a previous annual high of 25,000 images sold. More than 20 million images have been downloaded since the archive opened and the rate continues to increase.”


— Wulder & Coops , Sep 4, 2014
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“If you don’t know what Landsat (NASA/USGS) and Sentinel-1/Sentinel-2 (ESA) are, they are scientific Earth observation missions involving large, exquisitely calibrated satellites that capture imagery of the entire globe on a regular cadence. Landsat is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. In fact, there have been 9 different satellites bearing the Landsat name over those five decades—Landsat 9 was launched last year! The data they produce is open and hosted freely for anyone to access. Pr…


— Joe Morrison , May 23, 2022
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“The Landsat Program continues to be one of the most valuable, respected, and referenced Earth observation programs in the world.”


— Ellie Leydsman McGinty, UtahView State Coordinator , Jan 27, 2021
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“Landsat is the crown jewel of Earth Observation datasets—unique 40+ year archive.”


— Steven Brumby, co-founder Descartes Labs , Jun 14, 2017
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“Landsat is really important because it gives us that time component. We can go back in time and see what an area let’s say a coastal zone or a mangrove forest has been like over time.”


— Dr. Lola Fatoyinbo; Research Physical Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center , Feb 14, 2022
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“We have a globally consistent, locally relevant map product that can be used in a variety of applications: estimating emissions from deforestation, modeling biodiversity, assessing protected areas, and studying forest and human health. We plan to move our record forward and backward where Landsat has a sufficiently rich archive of data.”


— Matthew Hansen, University of Maryland , May 7, 2015
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“Anything that’s historic, it’s got to be Landsat. In temporal depth, Landsat is really the only game in town.”


— Mike Wulder, Canadian Forest Service, on historical land use change , Jan 16, 2018
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“With its superhuman sight, and decades of archived imagery, Landsat provides us with the ability to see through time, to track the vegetal movement which is beyond our normal sight and to see it for what it really is: a titanic unfolding of active and intentional life.”


— James Bridle, writer and artist , Jun 1, 2022
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“The Landsat satellite series has proven to be a perfect match to the needs of modern irrigated agriculture and water resources management.”


— Dr. Rick Allen, Professor of Water Resources Engineering , Nov 11, 2014
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“Landsat 9 replaces the older Landsat 7 and represents a step up in terms of image quality and data volume. Having two state-of-the-art platforms in orbit means more frequent data with excellent image quality.”


— Jeff Masek, Landsat 9 Project Scientist (NASA) , Nov 4, 2021
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“The Landsat data record is absolutely invaluable—wetland managers can start to understand if changes they are seeing take place over months, years or decades.”


— Bex Dunn, Earth Observation Scientist at Geoscience Australia , Jun 22, 2023
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“Landsat is widely considered to be a crucial national asset, comparable to the satellite-based GPS system and National Weather Service satellites. Ready access to Landsat images supplies a reliable common record of Earth conditions that fosters the mutual understanding of environmental challenges by citizens, researchers, and decision makers worldwide.”


— USGS press release , Jan 14, 2015
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“Data from Landsat and the MODIS sensor are well-suited to help people make informed policy decisions about ecosystem health, water management, agriculture and much more.”


— Jim Irons , Dec 17, 2014
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“The availability and accessibility of remotely sensed digital imagery obtained from Landsat satellites allow coastal scientist—and more importantly community members—the opportunity to map, evaluate and continuously monitor shoreline movement at regular intervals given the unprecedented pace of Arctic climate change.”


— Dr. Ravi Darwin Sankar, geologist with the Arctic Institute of North America & the University of Calgary in Canada , Dec 12, 2019
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ABOUT LANDSAT

The NASA/USGS Landsat Program provides the longest continuous space-based record of Earth’s land in existence. Landsat data give us information essential for making informed decisions about Earth’s resources and environment.