Mapping & Earth Observation · Recorded milestone
Earth-observation satellite
Recorded year1972
Landsat 1 begins a continuous record of Earth's land surface.
Explore this milestone on the interactive mapBuilt on
Led to
- Imaging radar from orbitRecorded · 1978enables
- Commercial stereo satelliteRecorded · 1986enables
- Hyperspectral imagingRecorded · 1987enables
- Satellite radar interferometryRecorded · 1993enables
- Gravity-mapping satellitesRecorded · 2002enables
- Free satellite archiveRecorded · 2008enables
- Satellite deforestation trackingRecorded · 2013enables
- Methane-tracking satellitesRecorded · 2016enables
- Wind lidar from spaceRecorded · 2018enables
- Farmland as a carbon sinkRecorded · 2019enables
- Air sensed molecule by moleculeForecast · ~2030enables
- Every square metre sensedForecast · ~2032enables
- Planetary health monitoringForecast · ~2032enables
- Heat-proof citiesForecast · ~2035enables
- Ozone layer fully healedForecast · ~2066enables
Sources & evidence
Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.