Landsat 7, the first Landsat to downlink data to the ground station in South Dakota, is officially decommissioned. It serviced Earth observation for over 25 years.
After being launched by NASA in 1999, Landsat 7 was the first Landsat satellite to be fully operated 24/7 by the United States Geological Survey.
NASA says the satellite has been called the “most stable, best characterized Earth observation instrument ever placed in orbit.”
Landsat 7 captured and documented data and snapshots of Earth over a 26-year span. For now, Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 are capturing Earth observation data until the 2030s.
According to the USGS, during its service, Landsat 7 traveled over 3.8 million miles and took 3.3 million images.
SDPB had a conversation at the Earth Resources Observation and Science Center, or EROS, in Sioux Falls with two men who worked with the satellite.
Terry Sohl, the Chief of the Integrated Science and Applications Branch at EROS, worked with Landsat 7 data. Joe Blahovec, Chief of the Satellite & Ground Systems Operations Branch, helped operate the satellite.
Listen to the full interview in the audio player above.
