Two days before Earth Day this year, the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA*) released a white paper on U.S. Earth Observation and its importance to the United States. The report urged that:”Continued support for space-based Earth observation capabilities is essential to saving lives, growing our economy and understanding our planet.”
The association’s president and CEO, David Melcher, wrote in the introduction: “This report contains fascinating and unexpected examples demonstrating how everyone benefits from space observations of Earth.”
Landsat is mentioned often in the 22-page report.
Melcher also wrote a commentary for Space News based on the white paper and titled, “Why Earth Observations Matter,” that was published on April 25, 2016.
*Note many commercial aerospace companies represented by AIA build components for NASA satellites.