The Earth Observing-1 satellite celebrated its tenth year on orbit Nov. 21. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard EO-1 demonstrated the feasibility of a new push-broom sensor for future Landsat missions. The next Landsat (LDCM) will use a push-broom sensor dubbed the Operational Land Imager (OLI). OLI is a departure from the heritage scanning (or whisk-broom) sensors of the first seven Landsats. As the NASA EO-1 Program Manager Brian Crammer says, “The Landsat community is treating push-broom sensors like we’ve been building them for years. That’s a tribute to EO-1.”
Further Information:
+ Earth Observing-1: Ten Years of Innovation
+ NASA EO-1 Website
+ The Earth Observer: EO-1 Celebrates 10 Years [pdf]

Above the Earth, Below the Surface: Landsat’s Role in Monitoring Water Quality
Safeguarding freshwater resources is crucial, and while scientists use a variety of ground-based techniques to gauge water quality, the Landsat program has provided water quality data from orbit for decades.