The final image taken by the Landsat 7 satellite was a near-perfect mirror of its first shot of the city back in 1999. (Image credit: Landsat / NASA/ USGS) GIF image showing growth of Las Vegas, from space…
Planet Earth
Final photo from iconic US satellite shows how Las Vegas has ‘doubled’ in size over the last 25 years — Earth from space
By Harry Baker, published yesterday
The final image captured by the recently decommissioned Landsat 7 satellite shows how “Sin City” has nearly doubled in size during the iconic spacecraft’s 25-year lifespan.
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QUICK FACTS
Where is it? Las Vegas, Nevada [36.10457930, -115.1448612]
What’s in the photos? Aerial shots taken at the start and end of a satellite’s operational lifespan
Which satellite took the photos? Landsat 7
When were the photos taken? July 4, 1999 and May 28, 2024
The last image captured by the recently decommissioned Landsat 7 satellite shows the sprawling mass of Las Vegas flowering in the heart of the Mojave Desert. The final photo also mirrors one of the satellite’s first-ever shots, highlighting how “Sin City” has rapidly expanded during the iconic spacecraft’s 25-year lifespan.
Landsat 7 is an Earth-observing satellite co-owned by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that orbits our planet roughly every 99 minutes. It was launched on April 15, 1999, and has since taken more than 3.3 million images of Earth’s surface, covering almost every square inch of the globe.
On June 4, the satellite received its final transmission from operators, marking the official end of its mission after a year-long decommissioning process that took the spacecraft out of the path of other satellites before it ran out of fuel. Landsat 7 will now drift in space for around 55 years before eventually reentering and burning up in the atmosphere, according to a USGS statement.
