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Landsat's First Images Show Rocky Mountains In Stunning Detail
Zothecula writes "We haven't heard anything from NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) spacecraft since its launch in February, but the satellite is now ready to start sending its first images back home. The first batch of photos are part of a three-month testing period, and show the meeting of the Great Plains with the Front Ranges of the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming and Colorado. Viewed from space, it's already a pretty spectacular scene, but the images from the LDCM managed to enhance it even further."
It's just they are higher detail and more refined than previous efforts.
Landsat images are used by a variety of government agencies for things like flood hazard mapping and water usage analysis. High resolution Landsat images can help the forest service determine where to search for search and rescue or mete out prescribed burns. The actual value of these images is pretty important and yes it can help augment our understanding of mountainous topography. That is pretty much what is so special about it since the old landsat satellite was recently retired and the new images we're getting are so much better than the last ones.
First hand knowledge here.
I got here through a series of tubes
I really don't see much difference between these photos and what is available on Google Earth. How much did NASA pay for this?
If you don't see the difference, you aren't trying very hard. Google earth pictures are much more detailed, but eliminate the spectral information that Landsat concentrates on.
The ones on google earth not only show the same horseshoe reservoir, but also allow you to zoom in to see a power boat pulling a water skier.
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Google doesn't provide resource management capabilities of Landsat spectral images. Read the second link in the story, scrolling down to the second image where they start explaining all the different capabilities.
Google deliberately gets rid of those layers as they optimize only on human vision imagery.
Also, don't discount the probability that the images shown on NASAs sight are not at the maximum resolution possible.
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These pictures continue our 40-year record of watching the Earth. Because Landsat has such a complete record, we gain a lot of understanding about how the Earth changes with the seasons and over time. LDCM will enable us to continue that record out into the future. So yes, these pictures will help a lot.
Disclaimer: I work on the LDCM project, and in fact I created that first PR image. It's a shame they chose Colorado because the OLI (Operational Land Imager) instrument was built there. We are looking at some stunning images, and the new data this instrument is collecting will knock scientists' socks off for years to come.
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Landsat takes images in several infrared bands -- a chlorophyll band, two shortwave IR bands, and with the new instrument we have a cirrus band, a shallow water coastal ultraviolet band, and two thermal IR bands as well. This is not a instrument designed for mapmakers or Google pictures (although it can be used for them.) This is a scientific instrument, and it will help us see where vegetation is damaged, where crops are ripe, what is happening to coral reefs, and the effects of climate change all around the globe.
Analogy: If normal Google map pictures are made with a camera, you can consider Landsat images to be made with a Star Trek-like planet scanner. 'Scan for life/minerals/fire' is something Landsat can do that normal cameras can not.
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Something others didn't mention is that this is SATELLITE data, not data from aerial photos.
When you look at Google Maps "satellite" view you are likely looking at a photo taken by a plane. Obviously it is much easier to get a high-resolution photo of a house from a plane a mile or two up than from a satellite 350 miles up.
Satellite photos have the advantage of being easier to acquire more regularly. The satellite flies over the country every day whether you need a photo or not. It will never be able to compete with a photo taken from a plane, let alone one taken from the ground. These are technologies that solve different problems.
There is definitely a use for regular civilian satellite images of the entire Earth's surface.