Landsat Satellite Mission Planned by USGS and NASA
Scientists and engineers from the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA are moving forward in planning a successor to the Landsat 7 satellite mission which was successfully launched from Vandenburg Air Force Base on April 15, 1999. With the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) satellite expected to launch 2011, the two agencies have announced their roles and responsibilities in mission development, subsystems procurement, and on-orbit operations.
Landsat 7 Satellite
To view new mission details click link below;
http://ldcm.usgs.gov/LDCMHome.php
LANDSAT image data has been used by government, commercial, industrial, civilian and educational communities throughout the world. The data is used to support a wide range of applications in such areas as global change research, agriculture, forestry, geology, resource management, geography, mapping, hydrology and oceanography. The images can be used to map anthropogenic and natural changes on the Earth over periods of several months to two decades. The type of changes that can be identified include agricultural development, deforestation, desertification, natural disasters, urbanization and the development and degradation of water resources. These changes, in turn, influence management and policy decision making.
Satellite image data enable direct observation of the land surface at repetitive intervals and therefore allow mapping of the extent and monitoring and assessment of:
- Crop health
- Storm Water Runoff
- Change detection
- Air Quality
- Environmental analysis
- Energy Savings
- Irrigated landscape mapping
- Carbon Storage and Avoidance
- Yield determination
- Soils and Fertility Analysis
- Identification of
LANDSAT 7 Image of Land Cover and Change Detection;
Agriculture Development
Parana, Brazil
