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from 438 miles above earth's surface the

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newest landsat satellite will collect

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data so detailed it can detect both

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natural and human-caused changes to the

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but what really makes landsat unique is

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the half century of data an unbroken

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chain of observations over five decades

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let's take a look at how we got here

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1966 the u.s geological survey proposes

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a satellite to study earth's land masses

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but what would that look like

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over the next few years usgs and nasa

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1970

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nasa gets the green light to build an

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earth resources technology satellite an

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experiment to study and monitor our

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planet's land surface from space

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launched in 72 this was the first

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digital data of earth repeated at

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regular intervals with geometric

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fidelity to allow comparison between

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observations

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[Music]

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this changed how we drew maps tabulated

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agricultural production and assessed

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damage after disasters

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in 1975 nasa launched a second satellite

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similar to the first

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now they were collecting twice as much

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data

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with landsat 3 replacing the aging

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original in 78 focus shifted to the

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advanced technology planned for the 80s

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the thematic mapper instrument launched

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on landsat 4 in 1982 and on its twin

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landsat 5 and 84 was a major step

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forward

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collecting seven different wavelengths

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at better ground resolution and with

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higher precision this was the beating

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heart of the satellite and became the

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workhorse for a generation of scientists

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for the first time landsat data had

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three visible bands red green and blue

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with the addition of shortwave infrared

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wavelengths the data could better

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highlight flooded areas

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mineral deposits and burn scars from

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the thermal bands were also upgraded

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allowing individual farm fields to be

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the sixth landsat was intended to be

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another big step forward but it never

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reached orbit after launch in 1993

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plans immediately began for landsat 7

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which would carry an even more improved

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sensor

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at the time the enhanced thematic mapper

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plus was the most stable earth

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observation instrument ever sent into

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orbit

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and the calibration could be updated

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while in space

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for the first time we had an instrument

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robust enough to collect lots of data

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and we had a plan to thoroughly record

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the entire globe

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landsat 7 was put to work mapping coral

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reefs

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and even produced the first

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high-resolution natural color map of

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improvements to the thermal bands on

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landsat 7 allowed states and counties to

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gauge how much water was used by crops

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this helps them manage water resources

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efficiently

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an important milestone occurred in 2008

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when the usgs made the data available to

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download for free

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users were able to get the data they

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needed and not just what they could

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afford it really unlocked a ton of

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innovation and created about two billion

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the modern era of landsat observations

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began with the launch of landsat 8 in

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2013

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having a push broom style sensor on

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landsat 8 was a big improvement over the

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older scanning sensor

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the landsat 8 ground system that usgs

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runs is capable of receiving a lot more

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data than before

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we're downloading over 725 scenes each

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day that just wasn't remotely possible

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until landsat 8.

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the two european sentinel 2 satellites

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were designed to mesh with landsat so

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that users can treat data from all the

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satellites as if it came from one single

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source

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now we get observations every two or

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2021 is the launch of landsat 9 the next

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step forward

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it will collect the best data ever

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recorded by a landsat satellite while

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still integrating seamlessly with the

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since the early 1970s landsat satellites

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have allowed us to better manage our

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resources

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landsat data has enabled countless

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innovations and will let us track the

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effects of climate change into the