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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. 

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Satellite Spots a Spawn
3 min read

The activity of herring around Vancouver Island in British Columbia brightened coastal waters enough to be detectable from space.

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5 min read

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3 min read

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3 min read

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Eruption at Mayon
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4 min read

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1 min read

The William T. Pecora Award is presented annually to individuals or teams using satellite or aerial remote sensing that make…

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3 min read

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Searching for Selenite
3 min read

Oklahoma’s Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge attracts rare and diverse species—and enthusiasts looking for a distinct type of crystallized gypsum.

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Scoria Cones on Earth and Mars
7 min read

The hill-shaped features are a sign of explosive volcanic activity—a rarity on the Red Planet.

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