EROS 50th Anniversary Graphic Animated

First came the notion of viewing the Earth’s land surfaces regularly by satellite in the 1960s. Then came the launch of Landsat 1 in 1972, with scientists and governments delighting in the revelations. But the information would have done little for the world if the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center hadn’t arisen from a cornfield in South Dakota in 1973 to store and deliver remote sensing data from Landsat 1, its sibling satellites and many other sources.

Methods of USGS EROS’ mission have improved with technology—transitioning from film to digital, for example, and enhancing data quality—and EROS has developed products to make the data easier to access and use.

Scientists at EROS and worldwide have used the data in countless ways to explore the condition and change of our land yesterday, today and even tomorrow. Management decisions based on their discoveries affect all our lives.