SAIC Launches Web-Based Processing System Delivering Custom LANDSAT Imagery Directly to Desktop

The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Landsat satellites collect images of Earth from space that can be used to evaluate changes to our planet caused by natural processes and human practices. In January of this year the USGS opened access to the Landsat archive allowing users to download scenes in a standard format. SAIC's new system fills a need in the Landsat user community by providing value-added processing of these standard products.

SAIC's custom imagery can be used by land-use/cover professionals (researchers, resource managers and policy makers) for crop management, drought monitoring, climate change detection, disaster relief, water resource management and other applications. With SAIC's new system, users can browse the USGS archive, select specific scene(s), and apply a powerful array of spatial and spectral processing options to generate products tailored to meet their needs.

"The USGS is a strong advocate of full use of the Landsat data in the archive. We support any system that expands the use of the data and makes the data more relevant and accessible to the global science community," said Bruce Quirk, program coordinator for the USGS Land Remote Sensing Program.

The new SAIC system provides fast and reliable data supported by experienced scientists and imaging experts, leveraging the 37-year-old USGS Landsat archive made available by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, SD.

 "SAIC has been intimately involved with production of Landsat products since 2002 when it was selected by USGS as the technical support contractor at the USGS EROS," said Chuck Zang, senior vice president and business unit general manager. "At EROS, we provided satellite data processing and knowledge management for the world's largest collection of civilian earth imagery. We look forward to continuing our support of the Landsat user community by providing quality custom imagery to their desktops"

For more information visit www.saic.com/landsat.