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Landsat News

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. 

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.

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Autumn Paints Poland’s Bieszczady Mountains
3 min read

Fall color covers the forested slopes of Bieszczady National Park, while patches of polonina, a type of high-mountain meadow, have…

Oct 19, 2026
Article
Isaias Dims the Gulf Coast
4 min read

High-definition images of nighttime lights show where the hurricane knocked out power along the Florida Panhandle and how quickly the…

Oct 16, 2026
Article
An Impact Structure With Legs
3 min read

If the thought of extraterrestrial objects crashing into Earth weren’t creepy enough, behold Australia’s Spider Crater.

Oct 13, 2026
Article
Floodwaters Overwhelm Thailand
2 min read

Heavy rains since mid-September have caused widespread flooding that has affected millions of people across the country.

Oct 9, 2026
Article
Fighting Drought in Texas Cotton Country
6 min read

Drought and an ailing aquifer were major topics of conversation when NASA scientists visited with farmers in the Texas High…

Oct 8, 2026
Article
The Beaver Brown Waters of Rupert Bay 
4 min read

Dissolved organic matter and suspended sediment mingle in the southernmost extent of James Bay.

Oct 6, 2026
Article
An Agricultural “Island” in the Saskatchewan River Delta
3 min read

Surrounded by wetlands, Manitoba's northernmost farmland near The Pas turns from green to brown over the 2026 growing season.

Oct 1, 2026
Article
Boom Year for Desert Blooms
3 min read

Carpets of wildflowers burst from arid, ochre-colored land in Western Australia following winter rains.

Sep 23, 2026
Article
Lake Powell Drops to Record-Low Levels
4 min read

Snow drought and unusually warm temperatures in the Colorado Basin in 2026 helped drive down reservoir water storage in the…

Sep 18, 2026
Article
An Accidental Impact Crater Discovery 
5 min read

An amateur astronomer scouting online satellite maps for campsites in Quebec found an impact crater instead.

Sep 15, 2026
Article
An Early Look at Fall Color in Canada
3 min read

Reds, yellows, and oranges are already sweeping across tundra landscapes in Nunavut.

Sep 14, 2026
Article
Anak Krakatau Rumbles Again
3 min read

A powerful eruption from the Indonesian volcano lofted ash into the atmosphere, disrupting thousands of flights and degrading air quality.

Sep 9, 2026
Article