Control of the new Landsat spacecraft to continue adding to the four decades of uninterrupted Earth-resources data was signed over to the U.S. Geological Survey from NASA on Thursday, completing the space agency's job of developing, launching and certifying the satellite.

An artist's concept of LDCM. Credit: Orbital Sciences

Known as the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, the craft was successfully placed into space by a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket on Feb. 11, blasting off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Over the past three-and-a-half months, the onboard systems and scientific instruments were activated, tested and calibrated, and the orbit was synched with the Landsat ground track, flying 438 miles high and completing an orbit every 98 minutes.

Now fully commissioned and re-named Landsat 8, the satellite handed to the USGS to begin its 10-year Earth-monitoring mission, as well as data processing and archiving.

"We are very pleased to work with NASA for the good of science and the American people," said U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. "The Landsat program allows us all to have a common, easily accessible view of our planet. This is the starting point for a shared understanding of the environmental challenges we face."

The satellite, built by Orbital Sciences, will collect at least 400 scenes every day from around the world to be processed and archived at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center in Sioux Falls.

The Landsat era took flight in 1972, beginning a continuous, unparalleled record of the planet's surface and its changes from urban expansion, deforestation and natural disasters that scientists can mine for long-term and broad-scale studies and applications.

"Landsat is a centerpiece of NASA's Earth Science program," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "Landsat 8 carries on a long tradition of Landsat satellites that for more than 40 years have helped us learn how Earth works, to understand how humans are affecting it and to make wiser decisions as stewards of this planet."

Atlas 5 rocket launches Landsat 8. Credit: Walter Scriptunas II/Spaceflight Now See full photo gallery

Landsat 8 is equipped with two instruments -- the Operational Land Imager built by Ball Aerospace and the Thermal Infrared Sensor built in-house at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The satellite will image 115-mile-wide swaths of Earth and repeat the same ground track every 16 days or about every 224 orbits.

The sensor pair will obtain higher quantity and quality images than previous Landsat spacecraft thanks to evolutionary advancements in instrument technology that enables this satellite to take longer looks at a parcel of land than the glimpses captured by predecessors.

Since 2008, USGS has provided more than 11 million current and historical Landsat images free of charge to users over the Internet. More than 20,000 scenes from Landsat 8's checkout period are available at http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/.

Additional coverage for subscribers:
Hi-def video files are presented in 720p resolution
VIDEO: LAUNCH OF ATLAS 5 WITH LANDSAT 8 HI-DEF
VIDEO: REPLAYS OF VARIOUS LAUNCH VIEWS HI-DEF
VIDEO: PAD GANTRY RETRACTED FOR LAUNCH HI-DEF
VIDEO: PRE-FLIGHT PREPARATIONS OF ATLAS 5 HI-DEF
VIDEO: PRE-FLIGHT PREPARATIONS OF LANDSAT HI-DEF
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