The full collection is expected to be available online, for the first time with no user fees, by the end of this year under a policy initiated by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne. The wider availability of images from Landsat and other Earth-observation satellites will assist both developing and developed countries as the world’s increasing population deals with the effects of climate change and limitations of water, petroleum and other vital resources.
This development was recently recognized and applauded by the international Group on Earth Observations at its annual plenary meeting in Romania.
For more information, visit
http://www.earthobservations.org/ or
http://landsat.usgs.gov/