Glossary

Landsat Collection 1 includes more than 9 million satellite images, representing the best available version of the longest continuously-collected record of Earth surface conditions in existence.

Landsat Collection 2: an upgrade that makes Landsat data easier to use alongside other satellite data sources, namely Europe’s Sentinel-2 satellites.

NOTE: These Landsat Collections are different to the Geoscience Australia Landsat Collections mentioned in the CMI.

The data that comes from the Landsat satellites is subject to a number of limitations. 

The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the USGS. 

In cooperation with NASA, the Earth Resources Technology Satellite (later renamed Landsat 1, LS1) was launched in 1972. Additional Landsat satellites were launched in the 1970s and 1980s, followed by Landsat 7 (LS7) in 1999. Landsat 8 (LS8) was  launched on 11 February, 2013. Landsat 9 (LS9) was successfully launched 27th September 2021.  

The instruments aboard the Landsat satellites have acquired millions of images through the course of the missions, and the data is a valuable resource for global change research and applications in agriculture, forestry, geology, regional planning, and education. 

For more information, see Landsat Science.