Frank Lucas: “Mr. Speaker, I rise to join my colleague in support of H.R. 891, celebrating 35 years of continuous operation of the…”

“Mr. Speaker, I rise to join my colleague in support of H.R. 891, celebrating 35 years of continuous operation of the Federal Government's Earth observing Landsat satellite program. Generations of Landsat satellites have taken and continue to take an uninterrupted record of images of Earth's oceans and lands, enabling resource managers, geologists, climate researchers and scientists to closely monitor land use changes, water consumption, forestry, agricultural and the effects of climate change through the regular acquisition and cataloging of these photographs. This detailed and continuous record of observations offers an unambiguous insight into the changes that are occurring on a global, regional and local scale. Landsat data and the research findings they enable would not be possible without the excellent cooperation and joint management between NASA, who designs, builds and launches the satellites, and the United States Geological Survey and the Department of Interior, who manage the archives of Landsat data at the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archives, what a title, located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Their data records extend back 33 years.”