NASA Launched New Landsat, the Latest Earth-Monitoring Satellite

Landsat 8, the latest satellite to be launched under NASA’s Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) was launched last Monday February 11, at the Vanderberg Air Force Base in California.

Landsat 8 was launched from an Atlas V booster at 1:02 pm EST (1802 GMT) and has the price tag of $855 million. Viewers from the country could witness the launch as broadcast by NASA Television.

What Landsat 8 will do

The newest Landsat satellite is intended to document many images of the Earth, including the continuing urban sprawl, the melting of the glaciers and various environmental shifts and the effects of natural disasters on the planet.

In a pre-flight conference headed by the project manager Ken Schwer, the LDCM program will “continue to describe the human impact on Earth and the impact of Earth on humanity”. This is integral since there are more than seven billion people in the earth today.

Keeping Landsat 7 company

Landsat 8 will follow Landsat 7, which has been in orbit for 14 years. Landsat 7 has been providing many important infrared images of the Earth from a distance of 438 miles above the planet.

Once Landsat 8 is in orbit, the two satellites will be orbiting the planet every 99 minutes and will provide various images of the planet. Landsat 8 will be relaying 400 images of the Earth per day and these will be relayed to the station located in Norway, Alaska and South Dakota.

The pictures from the powerful satellites will be so accurate, it be will able to show even a baseball field.

For the benefit of mankind

The data and images obtained from the satellites are used by various government agencies in the country, including the Federal, State, as well as local government units. The program doesn’t charge the government agencies for use of the images obtained.

Tracking environmental changes

The information gathered is used to help monitor things such as the earth’s changing coastlines and the various changes brought about by global warming, such as the melting of ice glaciers. The images are also used to help determine damage caused by massive natural disasters such as fires and floods.

The information to be gathered by Landsat 8 and Landsat 7 will also help track food production. According to senior scientist with the US Geological Survey Thomas Loveland, researchers can also use the information to help monitor crops and determine what type of crops will be needed, an activity that is necessary to help feed the world’s population.

Commercial uses of Landsat images

For those who use the Internet, the images from Landsat 8 will also be accessible. For example, Google uses various images in Google Earth that are obtained by these satellites.

Insurance companies also use the images broadcast by the Landsat satellites in helping determine risk exposure, especially to wildfires.

The first Landsat satellite was launched in 1972 by Orbital Sciences Corp. The latest satellite was built by the United Launch Alliance, a partnership between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.