Landsat 1
Landsat 1 (LS-1), formerly named ERTS-A and ERTS-1, was the first satellite of the United States' Landsat program. It was a modified version of the Nimbus 4 meteorological satellite and was launched on July 23, 1972, by a Delta 900 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It was the first satellite to carry a Multispectral Scanner. The near-polar orbiting spacecraft served as a stabilized, Earth-oriented platform for obtaining information on agricultural and forestry resources, geology and mineral resources, hydrology and water resources, geography, cartography, environmental pollution, oceanography and marine resources, and meteorological phenomena. Background The multi-agency Earth Resources Satellites Program was begun in 1966 by the Department of the Interior. The goal of the program was to gather data from the Earth via remote sensing techniques. The following year a feasibility study was performed for the Earth Resources Technology Satellite. The Bureau of Budget (BOB) did not grant funding to build the satellite, but provided $2 million to continue the feasibility studies. Satellite design Development Definition studies for two Earth observation satellites began in 1967. The satellites were named Earth Resources Technology Satellite and were individually known as ERTS-A and ERTS-B. In 1970, General Electric was selected as