Landsat 8 Satellite Begins Watch

May 30, 2013

Steve Cole
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0918
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

Kate Ramsayer
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-1742
kate.d.ramsayer@nasa.gov

Jon Campbell
U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Va.
571-230-6831
joncampbell@usgs.gov


RELEASE: 13-160

LANDSAT 8 SATELLITE BEGINS WATCH

WASHINGTON -- NASA transferred operational control Thursday of the
Landsat 8 satellite to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in a
ceremony in Sioux Falls, S.D.

The event marks the beginning of the satellite's mission to extend an
unparalleled four-decade record of monitoring Earth's landscape from
space. Landsat 8 is the latest in the Landsat series of
remote-sensing satellites, which have been providing global coverage
of landscape changes on Earth since 1972. The Landsat program is a
joint effort between NASA and USGS.

NASA launched the satellite Feb. 11 as the Landsat Data Continuity
Mission (LDCM). Since then, NASA mission engineers and scientists,
with USGS collaboration, have been putting the satellite through its
paces -- steering it into its orbit, calibrating the detectors, and
collecting test images. Now fully mission-certified, the satellite is
under USGS operational control.

"Landsat is a centerpiece of NASA's Earth Science program," said NASA
Administrator Charles Bolden in Washington. "Landsat 8 carries on a
long tradition of Landsat satellites that for more than 40 years have
helped us learn how Earth works, to understand how humans are
affecting it and to make wiser decisions as stewards of this planet."


Beginning Thursday, USGS specialists will collect at least 400 Landsat
8 scenes every day from around the world to be processed and archived
at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center in Sioux
Falls. The newest satellite joins Landsat 7, which launched in 1999
and continues to collect images. Since 2008, USGS has provided more
than 11 million current and historical Landsat images free of charge
to users over the Internet.

"We are very pleased to work with NASA for the good of science and the
American people," said U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell in
Washington. "The Landsat program allows us all to have a common,
easily accessible view of our planet. This is the starting point for
a shared understanding of the environmental challenges we face."

Remote-sensing satellites such as the Landsat series help scientists
observe the world beyond the power of human sight, monitor changes to
the land that may have natural or human causes, and detect critical
trends in the conditions of natural resources.

The 41-year Landsat record provides global coverage at a scale that
impartially documents natural processes such as volcanic eruptions,
glacial retreat and forest fires and shows large-scale human
activities such as expanding cities, crop irrigation and forest
clear-cuts. The Landsat Program is a sustained effort by the United
States to provide direct societal benefits across a wide range of
human endeavors including human and environmental health, energy and
water management, urban planning, disaster recovery, and agriculture.


With Landsat 8 circling Earth 14 times a day, and in combination with
Landsat 7, researchers will be able to use an improved frequency of
data from both satellites. The two observation instruments aboard
Landsat 8 feature improvements over their earlier counterparts while
collecting information that is compatible with 41 years of land
images from previous Landsat satellites.

For more information about the Landsat mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/landsat


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