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USGS Archive and Available Scenes

The USGS archive holds data collected by the Landsat suite of satellites, beginning with Landsat 1 in 1972. All Landsat scenes in the USGS EROS archive are available for download at no charge. The Search and Download page describes how to find Landsat data.

Archive

The USGS Landsat Global Archive provides a graphic view of the acquisition of Landsat data from 1972 to 2008.

Current Acquisitions

Currently, Landsat 7 and Landsat 5 continue to collect data, following a near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit on the Worldwide Reference System.

• Orbital path of Landsat 7 and Landsat 5 - FAQ
• Worldwide Reference System (WRS) - FAQ

The Landsat Acquisition page lists daily capture schedules, acquisition calendars, and pending acquisitions.

Landsat 7

Landsat 7 collects about 300 scenes per day and these are generally available to download within 24 hours of acquisition.

• Landsat 7 scenes from April 1999 to May 2003 provide complete full-scene data.
• Landsat 7 acquisitions since mid-2003 are collected and archived as “SLC-off”, due to the Scan Line Corrector failure. This accounts for an approximate loss of 22 percent of the entire scene, and gaps will be visible in the data product.

Landsat 5

The collection of Landsat 5 data has not been as consistent throughout its 25 years, and is on a limited acquisition schedule. Landsat 5 scenes are also available to download generally within 24 hours of acquisition.

• Landsat 5 must be in direct contact with a ground station to collect data,
• Other operational component malfunctions have forced limited collections. (See this Landsat Update for more details)