U.S. Geological Survey

Operates the Landsat satellites and keeps their archive, free to everyone since 2008.

Founded: 1879
Headquarters: Reston, Virginia
Machines in the atlas: 1

NASA builds and launches Landsat satellites; the USGS flies them from its operations center and keeps the archive at its Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, one of the largest civilian archives of land images in the world. Since 2008 Landsat products in the archive have been free to download. Landsat 10, the next satellite, is expected to launch in 2031.

Its machines

LandsatBuilds part of it

Stories that involve USGS

Landsat: 54 years of watching the land, and what comes after Landsat 9Since 1972 Landsat satellites have recorded Earth’s land, and since 2008 anyone can download the record free. NASA builds them and the USGS runs them; the next one has been redesigned, and its budget is in dispute.Story, about 10 minutes
Why the station, Landsat, GPS, GOES and Webb fly where they doHeight sets a satellite’s speed; tilt and shape set what it sees. Five neighborhoods, from the station about 400 km up to Webb 1.5 million km away, and the work each one makes possible.Story, about 11 minutes

Sources

Who We Are U.S. Geological Survey
Landsat Data Access U.S. Geological Survey
Landsat Satellite and Ground-Systems Operations U.S. Geological Survey
Landsat 9 U.S. Geological Survey
Landsat 10 U.S. Geological Survey