Suggested Searches

News

The Landsat program does more than just collect data. It helps write Earth's story.

NASA’s Landsat 9 satellite launches on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Space Force Station in California on Sept. 27, 2021. Launch time was 2:11 p.m. EDT (11:11 a.m. PDT). The launch is managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Landsat 9 will join its sister satellite, Landsat 8, in orbit in collecting images from across the planet every eight days. This calibrated data will continue the Landsat program’s critical role in monitoring the health of Earth and helping people manage essential resources, including crops, irrigation water, and forests. NASA Goddard manages the Landsat 9 mission. Goddard teams also built and tested one of the two instruments on Landsat 9, the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) instrument. TIRS-2 will use thermal imaging to make measurements that can be used to estimate soil moisture and detect the health of plants.

Since 1972, Landsat satellites have systematically documented our planet's changing surface, from shifting agricultural patterns and urban expansion to forest loss and coastal erosion. This continuous record provides scientists with invaluable data to understand long-term environmental change. 

Filters

All Categories

Date Range

Nebraska’s Wide, Rolling Domain
3 min read

The Nebraska Sandhills—the largest system of sand dunes in the Western Hemisphere—stretch across about one-quarter of the state.

Jun 16, 2026
Article
Pumice Rafts Encroach on Admiralty Islands
4 min read

Buoyant volcanic rock fragments from an underwater eruption drifted across the Bismarck Sea and choked island coasts.

Jun 15, 2026
Article
World Cup Fever in Guadalajara
5 min read

The city's metro area has pushed westward since it last hosted World Cup matches in 1986, expanding across a landscape…

Jun 12, 2026
Article
Jim Irons, Former Landsat Project Scientist, Wins Pecora Award
9 min read

Landsat’s Jim Irons won the prestigious William T. Pecora Award. Irons, now an emeritus scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,…

Jun 10, 2026
Article
Digging Back in Time in the UAE
5 min read

Once below a shallow sea, Jabal al Fāyah now stands above the desert in the United Arab Emirates as a…

Jun 8, 2026
Article
NASA Satellites Show Mangrove Forest Rebound
2 min read

NASA satellite images show that mangrove forests, which protect shorelines, support coastal ecosystems, and store large amounts of carbon along…

Jun 4, 2026
Blog
Fire’s Footprint on Santa Rosa Island
3 min read

A wildland fire charred grassland, coastal sage scrub, and chaparral across one-third of the island, the second largest of the…

Jun 2, 2026
Article
Two NASA Scientists Receive USGS, NASA 2025 William T. Pecora Award
3 min read

Award: The William T. Pecora Award recognizes outstanding scientific contributions toward a better understanding of Earth through satellite or aerial…

May 29, 2026
Blog
A Shift in What’s Shaping U.S. Landscapes
5 min read

Wild disturbances are on the rise, while land disturbed by human activity has been decreasing.

May 28, 2026
Article
Released: NASA Goddard Issues Draft Request for Proposal for the Landsat 10 Spacecraft
2 min read

The Landsat 10 Spacecraft Draft Request for Proposal (DRFP) is available for review via SAM.gov.

May 27, 2026
Article
Ever Restless Mount Dukono Erupts
2 min read

The volcano on Indonesia’s Halmahera Island routinely ejects ash, volcanic gases, and volcanic bombs.

May 27, 2026
Article
Three Ways that a New Land Monitoring System is Transforming How We Manage Forests
7 min read

DIST-ALERT, a global land change monitoring system, is revolutionizing forest management.

May 26, 2026
Article