The Landsat Data Continuity Mission, the newest addition to NASA's 40-year mission monitoring Earth from space, blasted into orbit atop this Atlas V rocket yesterday.
The successful launch ensures observations will continue uninterrupted once the LDCM satellite's predecessor, Landsat 7, runs out of fuel in 2016.
The two satellites take pictures in both visible and infrared light, and also track changes in the Earth's temperature, providing data for everything from Google Maps to climate science.
The Landsat programme has also given us a couple of past Pictures of the Day: the impact of deforestation in Brazil and the path of a tornado in Massachusetts. By April, the LDCM satellite should have reached a polar orbit 705 kilometres up.
Source:
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2013/02/13/55557/space-nasas-landsat-satellite-joins-40-year-mission.htm
