Landsat 8

Landsat Data Continuity Mission

Mission Profile

Landsat 8 (originally the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, LDCM) is a NASA Earth observation satellite launched on 11 February 2013 aboard an Atlas V 401 to continue the Landsat program's 40-year record of Earth surface imagery. It carries the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), capturing images in 11 spectral bands at 30-meter resolution. Landsat 8 data is freely available and widely used for monitoring deforestation, agricultural land use, glacial retreat, urban expansion, and disaster assessment. Together with Landsat 9 launched in 2021, it forms the backbone of the world's longest continuous land-surface observing program.