A series of US satellites launched from 1972 that monitor the Earth's resources and the effects of pollution, deforestation, and desertification.
Landsat 1, originally called ERTS-A (Earth Resources Technology Satellite-A), orbited 1972–5, acquiring more than 300 000 images of the Earth's surface. Landsat 4, launched in June 1982, contained a new kind of technology, the thematic mapper (TM). The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration took over the running of the Landsat programme from NASA in 1983.