oceanlove

✨26✨ years ago today, the #Landsat 7 satellite was launched into space. Originally designed as a five-year mission, the satellite surpassed all expectations and completed over 132,000 orbits around the Earth. The Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) onboard added more than 3.3 million images to the USGS Landsat archive from 1999 until science data acquisitions ended in January 2024.  The Landsat 7 mission was pivotal in meeting the need of global Earth observations and propelled land-change science research into a new era. The technology of the ETM+ greatly expanded the capabilities for future Earth observing data application advancements. Landsat 7’s impact allowed more than 5,000 scientific publications in 21 languages across 143 different countries, among policy documents and news, blogs, and/or patent mentions.  #Landsat #USGS #Landsat7 #Earthobservation That's a remarkable milestone for Landsat 7! Launched 26 years ago on April 15, 1999, it far exc...