Recent Imagery
You will be directed to the NASA Visible Earth webpage when you select Images by Mission below, or click on the images at right that are randomly generated to represent four out of all possible topics.
Landsat Update
Landsat Update
After nearly 29 years in orbit, the longest operational satellite mission in history has come to an end. One of Landsat 5’s three operational gyroscopes failed on November 4, 2012, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA subsequently made the decision to end the mission—since control of the satellite would be impossible if another gyro fails. On January 15, the USGS’s Flight Operations Team successfully executed the first in a series of maneuvers that will lower Landsat 5 from its operational orbit.
By any standard, Landsat 5 was an extraordinary success. The satellite’s Multispectral Scanner (shut down in 1995, and briefly reactivated near the end of the mission) and Thematic Mapper instruments achieved an unprecedented multi-decadal record of Earth observations, helping us to gain a better understanding of land surface changes and the human impact on the planet. Landsat 5 completed over 150,000 orbits and transmitted over 2.5 million images, and its sun-synchronous low Earth orbit eventually became home to other missions. This group of satellites became known as the Morning Constellation—referring to their morning overpass times.
While Landsat 5 ends, current and upcoming missions continue to grow the Landsat legacy. Landsat 7, launched in 1999, continues to operate well beyond its projected five-year mission and (despite a long-standing anomaly with the Scan Line Corrector). The next launch is imminent; the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM ) is scheduled to launch on February 11 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in southern California. Discussions are underway regarding the follow-on mission to continue this important record of Earth observations.