The Landsat Project is a joint initiative of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to gather Earth resource data using a series of satellites. NASA was responsible for developing and launching the spacecrafts, while the USGS is responsible for flight operations, maintenance, and management of all ground data reception, processing, archiving, product generation, and distribution.

The primary objective of the Landsat Project is to ensure a collection of consistently calibrated Earth imagery. Landsat's Global Survey Mission is to establish and execute a data acquisition strategy that ensures repetitive acquisition of observations over the Earth's land mass, coastal boundaries, and coral reefs; and to ensure the data acquired are of maximum utility in supporting the scientific objectives of monitoring changes in the Earth's land surface and associated environment.

For more information on Landsat objectives and management guidelines, please view the Management Plan for the Landsat Program (pdf 18KB).