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The Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 satellites together acquire approximately 1,500 scenes daily. These scenes are available for download within 6 hours of acquisition. Landsat satellite acquisitions are managed as a system, known as a satellite constellation. Long-Term Acquisition Plans (LTAPs) direct and optimize the daily acquisitions of each active Landsat satellite.
Special requests for future Landsat acquisitions can be submitted after reviewing the information provided on the Landsat Acquisitions webpage.
Landsat descending (daytime) acquisitions run from north to south; the satellites cross the equator at 10:12 a.m., +/- 5 minutes, local time on each pass. This timing provides the best sunlight for capturing images. The acquisition start and end times for each image are listed in the metadata file included with the Landsat Level-1 product. These times also appear on EarthExplorer and GloVis...
Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 orbit Earth at an altitude of 705 kilometers, or 438 miles. Each satellite captures images across a 185-kilometer, or 115-mile, swath. The satellites move from north to south over the sunlight side of Earth in a sun-synchronous orbit. Each satellite circles Earth every 99 minutes and completes about 14 orbits a day – and passes over the same location once every 16 days...
Landsat scenes become available through EarthExplorer within 6 hours after acquisition and become visible in GloVis within 24 hours. See Landsat Acquisitions for acquisition calendars and information about daily schedules.
The sensors onboard each of the Landsat satellites were designed to acquire data in different wavelengths within the electromagnetic spectrum. View Bandpass Wavelengths for all Landsat Sensors The Multispectral Scanner (MSS) carried on Landsat 1,2,3,4 and 5 collected data in four ranges (bands); the Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor on Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 included those bands found on earlier...
The Spectral Characteristics Viewer is an interactive tool that can be used to visualize how the bands, or channels, of different satellite sensors measure the intensity of the many wavelengths (colors) of light. This is also known as the relative spectral response (RSR). By overlaying the spectral curves from different features (spectra), one can determine which bands of the selected sensor will...
Ascending (nighttime) WRS-2 path/row numbers are different from descending (daytime) path/rows. Cloud cover values for Landsat night scenes will always be -1. If you know the daytime path/row or coordinates and want to know the nighttime path/row, use the WRS-2 Path/Row to Latitude/Longitude Converter. Use EarthExplorer to search using path/row or coordinates: Access EarthExplorer. On the Search...
The Sentinel-2A MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) data has spectral bands very similar to Landsat 8 and 9 (excluding the thermal bands of Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS)). All Sentinel-2 data are freely available from the Copernicus Open Access Hub; therefore, users are encouraged to download the data via https://dataspace.copernicus.eu/explore-data/data-collections/sentinel-…. To learn...
This video is a recording of a previous webinar entitled: “Landsat Special Requests: Expanding Acquisition Capabilities”. This webinar was recorded on April 16, 2026.
This video is a recording of a previous webinar entitled: “Landsat Special Requests: Expanding Acquisition Capabilities”. This webinar was recorded on April 16, 2026.
Tom Loveland talks about using Landsat's data for land use and land cover change research.
Find this video and thousands more at https://usgs.gov/gallery.
Tom Loveland talks about using Landsat's data for land use and land cover change research.
Find this video and thousands more at https://usgs.gov/gallery.
Landsat 9 Project Scientist Jeff Masek discusses the ways Landsat data is used and how important it is to have high quality data.
Landsat 9 Project Scientist Jeff Masek discusses the ways Landsat data is used and how important it is to have high quality data.
Boston University Professor Curtis Woodcock talks about the significance Landsat was had in science and what he hopes to see as the mission continues.
Boston University Professor Curtis Woodcock talks about the significance Landsat was had in science and what he hopes to see as the mission continues.
Landsat Collections: Providing a Stable Environmental Record for Time Series Analysis
Landsat Collections: Providing a Stable Environmental Record for Time Series Analysis
This is the third video in a series describing the new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Collection 1 inventory structure. Collection 1 required the reprocessing of all archived Landsat data to achieve radiometric and geometric consistency of Level-1 products through time and across all Landsat sensors.
This is the third video in a series describing the new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Collection 1 inventory structure. Collection 1 required the reprocessing of all archived Landsat data to achieve radiometric and geometric consistency of Level-1 products through time and across all Landsat sensors.
Landsat Collections: Providing a Stable Environment Record for Time Series Analysis
Landsat Collections: Providing a Stable Environment Record for Time Series Analysis
The Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center has created a video animation describing how Landsat 8 orbits the Earth. The video explains the 16-day cycle for capturing imagery of the entire world.
The Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center has created a video animation describing how Landsat 8 orbits the Earth. The video explains the 16-day cycle for capturing imagery of the entire world.
Remotely sensed imagery of wildfires burning in the Siberia region of Russia shows the complementary possibilities of Landsat 8 and NASA's ASTER sensor aboard its Terra satellite.
Remotely sensed imagery of wildfires burning in the Siberia region of Russia shows the complementary possibilities of Landsat 8 and NASA's ASTER sensor aboard its Terra satellite.
Landsat descending (daytime) acquisitions run from north to south; the satellites cross the equator at 10:12 a.m., +/- 5 minutes, local time on each pass. This timing provides the best sunlight for capturing images. The acquisition start and end times for each image are listed in the metadata file included with the Landsat Level-1 product. These times also appear on EarthExplorer and GloVis...
Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 orbit Earth at an altitude of 705 kilometers, or 438 miles. Each satellite captures images across a 185-kilometer, or 115-mile, swath. The satellites move from north to south over the sunlight side of Earth in a sun-synchronous orbit. Each satellite circles Earth every 99 minutes and completes about 14 orbits a day – and passes over the same location once every 16 days...
Landsat scenes become available through EarthExplorer within 6 hours after acquisition and become visible in GloVis within 24 hours. See Landsat Acquisitions for acquisition calendars and information about daily schedules.
The sensors onboard each of the Landsat satellites were designed to acquire data in different wavelengths within the electromagnetic spectrum. View Bandpass Wavelengths for all Landsat Sensors The Multispectral Scanner (MSS) carried on Landsat 1,2,3,4 and 5 collected data in four ranges (bands); the Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor on Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 included those bands found on earlier...
The Spectral Characteristics Viewer is an interactive tool that can be used to visualize how the bands, or channels, of different satellite sensors measure the intensity of the many wavelengths (colors) of light. This is also known as the relative spectral response (RSR). By overlaying the spectral curves from different features (spectra), one can determine which bands of the selected sensor will...
Ascending (nighttime) WRS-2 path/row numbers are different from descending (daytime) path/rows. Cloud cover values for Landsat night scenes will always be -1. If you know the daytime path/row or coordinates and want to know the nighttime path/row, use the WRS-2 Path/Row to Latitude/Longitude Converter. Use EarthExplorer to search using path/row or coordinates: Access EarthExplorer. On the Search...
The Sentinel-2A MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) data has spectral bands very similar to Landsat 8 and 9 (excluding the thermal bands of Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS)). All Sentinel-2 data are freely available from the Copernicus Open Access Hub; therefore, users are encouraged to download the data via https://dataspace.copernicus.eu/explore-data/data-collections/sentinel-…. To learn...
This video is a recording of a previous webinar entitled: “Landsat Special Requests: Expanding Acquisition Capabilities”. This webinar was recorded on April 16, 2026.
This video is a recording of a previous webinar entitled: “Landsat Special Requests: Expanding Acquisition Capabilities”. This webinar was recorded on April 16, 2026.
Tom Loveland talks about using Landsat's data for land use and land cover change research.
Find this video and thousands more at https://usgs.gov/gallery.
Tom Loveland talks about using Landsat's data for land use and land cover change research.
Find this video and thousands more at https://usgs.gov/gallery.
Landsat 9 Project Scientist Jeff Masek discusses the ways Landsat data is used and how important it is to have high quality data.
Landsat 9 Project Scientist Jeff Masek discusses the ways Landsat data is used and how important it is to have high quality data.
Boston University Professor Curtis Woodcock talks about the significance Landsat was had in science and what he hopes to see as the mission continues.
Boston University Professor Curtis Woodcock talks about the significance Landsat was had in science and what he hopes to see as the mission continues.
Landsat Collections: Providing a Stable Environmental Record for Time Series Analysis
Landsat Collections: Providing a Stable Environmental Record for Time Series Analysis
This is the third video in a series describing the new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Collection 1 inventory structure. Collection 1 required the reprocessing of all archived Landsat data to achieve radiometric and geometric consistency of Level-1 products through time and across all Landsat sensors.
This is the third video in a series describing the new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Collection 1 inventory structure. Collection 1 required the reprocessing of all archived Landsat data to achieve radiometric and geometric consistency of Level-1 products through time and across all Landsat sensors.
Landsat Collections: Providing a Stable Environment Record for Time Series Analysis
Landsat Collections: Providing a Stable Environment Record for Time Series Analysis
The Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center has created a video animation describing how Landsat 8 orbits the Earth. The video explains the 16-day cycle for capturing imagery of the entire world.
The Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center has created a video animation describing how Landsat 8 orbits the Earth. The video explains the 16-day cycle for capturing imagery of the entire world.
Remotely sensed imagery of wildfires burning in the Siberia region of Russia shows the complementary possibilities of Landsat 8 and NASA's ASTER sensor aboard its Terra satellite.
Remotely sensed imagery of wildfires burning in the Siberia region of Russia shows the complementary possibilities of Landsat 8 and NASA's ASTER sensor aboard its Terra satellite.