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.

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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 »

“Satellite imagery can help us get the biggest bang for our buck by targeting conservation initiatives in a specific window of time at key locations. Landsat is the longest running Earth observation satellite system we have, and free access to this data enables researchers to look at the effects of seasonality, climate cycles, and long-term trends in land-use change.”


— Danica Schaffer-Smith, doctoral student, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University , Mar 27, 2017
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“Measuring the past contributes to our understanding of the long-term consequences of our past economic and societal choices, and contributes to more informed management decisions in the future.”


— Jean-François Pekel, who used 3 million Landsat images to make global surface water , Dec 9, 2016
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“Landsat is providing better [surface] water data—not just at the state level or nationally, but globally”


— via Alan Belward, EU Commission JRC , Jul 8, 2015
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“I would summarize Landsat 8’s science impacts in three ways: More data, better data, and improved, expanded applications.”


— Tom Loveland, Chief Scientist at USGS EROS , Oct 6, 2016
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“What makes this [Landsat 8] mission team special is the fervor they brought to task. They were challenged to retain the historic data continuity, yet take advantage of new technology while balancing cost and complexity. Few, if any, missions face such a challenge with such consequences on the line. After more than a decade of dedication, this Team launched a new sensor that was more sensitive and robust than previous sensors, and provided not only data continuity but even more and better d…


— Susan Moran , Nov 18, 2014
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“Without the free and open Landsat data policy, a lot of commercial applications wouldn’t be feasible and a lot of commercial companies—including GDA—would be very different than they are.”


— Dmitry L. Varlyguin, Geospatial Data Analysis Corp. Vice President & Chief Scientist , Apr 9, 2019
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“With the full Landsat record available, we can finally look at really big problems, like the global carbon cycle.”


— Jeff Masek , Mar 26, 2015
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“Landsat 8 represents yet another substantial advance to continuing a 40 year land data record, essential to understanding the Earth’s biosphere, anthropogenic changes to land use and land cover, the terrestrial carbon cycle, and the consequences for climate and biodiversity. This important extension to the Landsat series, the Landsat 8 mission, was achieved, through an outstanding interagency and industrial partnership, effectively managed to achieve breakthrough improvements in satellite …


— Forrest Hall , Nov 18, 2014
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“It’s a fantastic time to be a user of satellite data, if you’re in that moderate resolution domain this is amazing. The Sentinels and Landsat together is going to be really a game changer. It truly is.”


— David Roy, Professor at South Dakota State University’s Geospatial Sciences Center of Excellence , Feb 27, 2018
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“When I arrived in Gombe 50-plus years ago, looking up at the stars, it never occurred to me that one day, we’d be relying on remote sensing—satellites circling the globe high above—to help unite communities of people and save Gombe’s chimpanzees. NASA—through its resources and data and funding—is helping us to apply the kinds of innovative solutions needed to address the complex problems people and chimpanzees face today.”


— Jane Goodall , Sep 29, 2015
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“[I]n 2008 USGS first instituted the policy of giving away Landsat data for free (first with Landsat 7, then the rest of the archive in 2009). It probably felt like a crazy choice at the time after billions of dollars of investment in the program… but the effect was immediate and extraordinary. Roughly a 100-fold increase in downloads in a decade.”


— Joe Morrison , May 23, 2022
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“It’s really a new era for Landsat, in that we’re going to have two observatories with very similar capabilities and very similar—if not identical—performances operating together. And this is going to provide more data to the Landsat mission than we’ve ever had before.”


— Chris Crawford, Landsat 9 Project Scientist (USGS) , Feb 23, 2022
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“We’re taking darkness out of the equation. Extending the ability to observe ice and polar ocean changes increases the probability of capturing major glacier calving events, wind-driven surface melting or warming, and coastal ocean ice shelf breakup that can be expected to occur more frequently in the future if the pace of warming does not slow.”


— Christopher Crawford, USGS Landsat Project Scientist and Data Acquisition Lead , Apr 2, 2024
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“I don’t think people appreciate just how revolutionary it was when the Landsat archive became available for free and really empowered researchers and advocates to have access to that data at an affordable price to be able to do the kind of mapping that’s now been done, making visible what was previously invisible…”


— Frances Seymour, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development , Oct 2, 2018
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“The economic and scientific benefits to the United States of Landsat imagery far exceed the investment in the system.”


— National Research Council , Aug 20, 2013
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“[W]e see—at least in the commercial sector—that these missions really depend on Landsat as a reference calibrated measurement to adjust or align their measurements to Landsat.”


— Chris Crawford, USGS Research Physical Scientist & USGS Landsat Project Scientist , Jul 1, 2022
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“[B]eing able to produce maps with Landsat data that show how things have changed over time, and then actually seeing how they are improving and how we are losing less of these really critical and important ecosystems to me is really encouraging.”


— Dr. Lola Fatoyinbo; Research Physical Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center , Feb 14, 2022
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“With a launch in 2023, Landsat 9 would propel the program past 50 years of collecting global land cover data. That’s the hallmark of Landsat: the longer the satellites view the Earth, the more phenomena you can observe and understand.”


— Jeff Masek, Landsat 9 Project Scientist , Apr 16, 2015
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“Landsat’s work is epic in scale. In 43 years, it has amassed over a petabyte of data, with over 4 million scenes and counting.”


— Esri , Mar 19, 2015
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“It is a game changer for people who want to know the impact of a management action on particular piece of land, or how a dam affected the downstream area.”


— Dr. Virginia Burkett, Chief Scientist, Climate and Land Use Change (CLU), USGS, describing the new Landsat Analysis Ready Data , May 11, 2018
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“Sentinel-2a is essentially Europe’s version of the American Landsat mission.”


— Jonathan Amos , Feb 25, 2015
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“Landsat is, on its own merits, an extremely important capability for our country. It becomes all the more important when we overlay on top of that, the challenges of climate change and the fact that we are driving our climate to a place that we haven’t seen before, scientifically.”


— Karen St. Germain, director of NASA's Earth Science Division , Feb 8, 2022
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“We have so many options with Landsat Next, to add additional information and context to support our wetland managers as well as continuing the historical record of change and variability of our wetlands.”


— Bex Dunn, Earth Observation Scientist at Geoscience Australia , Jun 22, 2023
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“Whether it’s since 1985 or 2000, we see this greening of the Arctic evident in the Landsat record.”


— Logan Berner, a global change ecologist, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff , Sep 23, 2020
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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.