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Sustainable Land Imaging (SLI) Commercial Transition Initiative

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is America’s civil space program and the global leader in space exploration. The agency has a diverse workforce of just under 18,000 civil servants, and works with many more U.S. contractors, academia, and international and commercial partners to explore, discover, and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity.

Kansas Center Pivot Agriculture

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) & U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Partnership

NASA and USGS are partnering with the Earth observation (EO) industry to integrate commercial data or products into the Landsat record—ensuring the future of land imaging and accelerating the EO economy into the 2030s. The SLI Commercial Transition Initiative brings together commercial EO providers, analytics vendors, calibration and validation experts, government partners, and the Landsat user community to evaluate new approaches for incorporating commercial capabilities into federal land imaging programs.

Through a phased, product-based approach, NASA and USGS will examine opportunities to lower barriers to commercial participation, evaluate incorporation of commercial data or products into transparent federal processing workflows, and support technical and technological advances within the U.S. EO marketplace while maintaining the scientific quality, consistency, and continuity standards associated with the Landsat record.

Map with blue splotches indicating surface water, lighter shades inferring less confidence, or wetland, and gray areas being low confidence. The left half of the image is dense with dark blue blobs of varying sizes
Landsat Dynamic Surface Water Extent Science Product example from Northern Minnesota. This product represents the existence and condition of surface water at the time of Landsat acquisition. It can be served as input to hydrologic and carbon models, as well as other Landsat Science Products such as Burned Area or Fractional Snow-Covered Area. Application research includes topics such as habitat assessment, wetland delineation and monitoring, flood mitigation and recovery, and land cover. Image source
USGS/Michelle Bouchard

Building on More Than Five Decades of Landsat Observations

The initial set of USGS “Quick Win” products includes bathymetry, surface water extent, burned area, and burn severity. Generating these products requires diverse imaging capabilities spanning the Visible and Near-Infrared (VNIR) to Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) spectral regions. The maturity of these algorithms makes them ideal for direct technical collaboration with the Earth observation industry. Our approach is to augment Landsat-derived products with equivalent commercial offerings that demonstrate value through enhanced spectral and spatial resolution and/or improved temporal frequency. Through this partnership, we will identify product quality and consistency gaps while sharing open-source, government-supplied processing workflows that enable commercial providers to meet Landsat-quality requirements.

This false-color image shows vegetation burn severity from the Cottonwood Fire, calculated as the absolute difference between the pre-fire NBR and post-fire NBR. Unchanged or unburned land cover appears white, areas of fire damage appear as shades of brown, and areas of growth appear as shades of teal.
This false-color image shows vegetation burn severity from the Cottonwood Fire on June 29, 2026, calculated as the absolute difference between the pre-fire NBR and post-fire NBR. Unchanged or unburned land cover appears white, areas of fire damage appear as shades of brown, and areas of growth appear as shades of teal.
NASA/Ross Walter

Participating in the SLI Initiative

The SLI Commercial Transition Initiative is evaluating how emerging commercial capabilities could complement the Landsat data record while maintaining the data quality and continuity needed for Earth science and applications, decision-making activities, and long-term environmental monitoring. We invite the EO community to review the SLI Commercial Transition strategy and provide feedback on the proposed approach.

Feedback is particularly valuable in areas including:

  • Commercial Earth observation constellations, products, and capabilities
  • Technology gaps and needs
  • Processing workflow and analytics capabilities
  • Product specifications and technical requirements
  • Pre- and post-launch calibration and validation instrumentation and approaches
  • Data interoperability and integration
  • Science and applications requirements and use cases
  • Commercial business models

We Want Your Feedback

NASA and USGS want your feedback. Input from industry, analytics vendors, technology providers, and the Landsat user community will help inform the technical and programmatic development of the joint-agency SLI Commercial Transition Initiative.

Contact: hq-esd-sli-event@mail.nasa.gov

Documents and Resources

  • SLI Commercial Transition Strategy

    Learn about the proposed SLI Commercial Transition approach, objectives, technical framework, phases, and implementation considerations.

  • Industry Event Presentation

    Review materials presented during SLI Commercial Transition industry engagement activities, including information on proposed technical workflows and business-model considerations.

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  • Additional Technical Resources

    Technical documents, product information, engagement materials, and other resources will be published here as they become available.

Earth’s full disk is seen through the window of a spacecraft. The glow of aurora, a sliver of the Sun, and fuzzy zodiacal light surround the planet, and city lights are visible on the continents.

Procurement Opportunities

Future acquisition opportunities associated with the SLI Commercial Transition Initiative will be communicated through appropriate federal acquisition channels.

Organizations interested in potential future opportunities are encouraged to review published strategy materials, participate in industry engagement activities, and monitor this site for updates.

Important: Information presented on this website regarding potential future acquisition activities is for planning and engagement purposes and does not constitute a solicitation or commitment by the U.S. Government.

Stay Engaged

The SLI Commercial Transition Initiative will continue to evolve as NASA and USGS engage with industry, evaluate emerging capabilities, and receive input from the Landsat user community.

Visit this page for new technical materials, engagement opportunities, program updates, and information about potential future acquisition activities.

Upcoming Event

Next SLI Commercial Transition Community Engagement

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