The USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center and its Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE) partners produced the third edition of the compendium, which commemorates the 50^th anniversary of the Landsat Program and the remote sensing revolution it produced. The compendium also includes its customary data sheets on the origins, uses, availability and capabilities of hundreds of Earth observation missions launched or planned by dozens of countries and private companies.

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Each edition of the updated publication offers articles with insight on trends, changes, challenges and future considerations in the expanding realm of Earth observation. In 2022, those articles include the remote sensing retrospective “Exploring Earth from Space for 50 Years” and the intriguing discussion “Finance—A New Player in Remote Sensing?”

The Land Remote Sensing Satellites Online Compendium database provides more continuously updated information about these satellites in between compendium editions.

EROS Cal/Val Center of Excellence (ECCOE) staff began compiling the compendium in 2018 in recognition of the evolving nature of the field and the rapid growth within the public and private satellite sectors. The compendium’s first edition was released in 2019 and the second in 2020, taking the form of a formalized outgrowth of a list of remote sensing satellites compiled and updated for many years by Bill Stoney. Stoney led NASA’s Earth Observation Programs for decades and maintained a list of Earth observing satellites as the number of countries and agencies launching them grew.

Stoney, who passed away May 28, 2022, is recognized in the Acknowledgments section of the 2022 edition, along with longtime EROS employees and passionate remote sensing advocates Thomas Loveland and John Dwyer. Loveland passed away May 13, 2022, and Dwyer passed away July 4, 2021.

Like the 2022 compendium, Pecora 22 will focus on Landsat’s 50^th anniversary and look ahead to the future of science and technology in remote sensing. The conference will be held October 24-27, 2022, in Denver, Colorado.

Also upcoming is the annual JACIE workshop sponsored by the USGS, NASA, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Reconnaissance Office and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for discussions about remote sensing system capabilities, calibration and data quality. The next workshop is planned for March 27-30, 2023, in Reston, Virginia