Resources & Activities
Use the resources below to host your event! Follow these easy steps and pick what works for you.
- Watch the Launch! Scheduled for 10:02 am (PST) February 11
- Join the global party online
- Hold a contest
- Create hands-on activities
- Provide hand-outs with background information
- Play videos on Landsat and LDCM
- Set up a gallery of some of Landsat's most striking images
- Invite local speakers to talk
- Work with local schools and classrooms
Watch the Launch
Tune in on NASA TV to watch the launch and attend the press conference. It's just like you're there! Launch is scheduled for 10:02 am (PST) on February 11.
Join the global party online!
Hold a Contest
Choose from a number of ideas ranging from essay contests, model rocket launches, and art contest. Promote the contests you choose to hold in advance. Partner with schools, after school groups, or community groups.
Essay Contest
Possible topics:
- How does Landsat help me?
- In your opinion, what is the most useful way Landsat data is used?
- What changes have you seen in your community that you think could be seen from space by Landsat?
Rocket Launch Contest
Choose a type of rocket and get people involved in creating their own. Then hold a contest for furthest distance or greatest height achieved. Learn about the Atlas V rocket and the countdown to launch LDCM.
Other Contest Ideas
- Make your Own "Earth As Art" with Landsat images using Landsat Look Viewer and following these easy instructions - People at your party can create their own scenes with free Landsat data. Party attendees can vote on their favorites.
- Vote for your favorite "Earth As Art" - Using the already existing "Earth As Art" images, people could write a brief description about their favorite image, sharing why they think it's beautiful and what it shows
- Be Landsat - Kids can draw landscapes as a satellite would see it. Party attendees can vote on their favorites
Create hands-on activities
Set up booths at you party where people can experiment and explore the science and engineering behind Landsat.
- What Does Landsat Measure? Modeling reflectance in a shoebox Easy hands-on activity showing that different materials reflect more or less. This is the basis for remote sensing and how Landsat gathers its information from Earth.
- Rocket Science 101 - Build and launch a rocket in this online game
- Fold your own LDCM - Print the paper satellite model and instructions. This is a detailed model of the LDCM and takes a while to construct. Have a station for people to make their own at your party or have them available for people to take home to construct.
- Capture yourself in Infrared: Infrared camera - If you have access to an infrared camera, set up a station where people can take their picture in infrared. Seeing themselves in infrared is a great way to learn about infrared sensors on satellites. They may even be able to share their pictures with their friends online.
- Take the Landform Quiz! - Print these or play the slide show as a PowerPoint. Forms are provided for people to make their guesses and an answer sheet is available for finding the right answer.
- Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum - Run this on a computer so visitors can explore the electromagnetic spectrum and better understand remote sensing
Provide hand-outs with background information
Print the hand-outs below and make them available for people to read or take with them. If you don't want to have them available for people to take, print a few and put them up at your party, ready for people to peruse at their leisure.
- LDCM Launch brochure
- LDCM Fact Sheet
- How does Landsat help society? These fact sheets explore Landsat's role in:
Landsat: Continuing to Improve Everyday Life – Landsat has many applications. This book explores some programs and applications where Landsat data is making a difference. If you are interested in learning how Landsat helps people everyday, this book can give you and your party attendees some insight. If you're planning on hosting an event as part of a book club, this would be a great resource to get the conversation started.
Play videos about Landsat and LDCM
Use the videos below to engage people at your party and familiarize them with the Landsat program. These videos can also be helpful to promote your event using social media.
- Landsat Flyby Video - Great video to generate excitement and global understanding of how Landsat continues to benefit people
- Building and Shipping LDCM - Watch scientists in the clean room as they work on TIRS, an instrument on LDCM, and get it ready for shipping
- Landsat Multimedia Page - Links to more great videos on Landsat. Pick and share your favorites.
- SVS Landsat Link - Full of lots of Landsat videos, pick your favorites
- NASA TV - watch the launch and press release live from Vandenberg Air Force Base! See and hear NASA scientists talk about LDCM.
- Launch information
Set up a gallery of some of Landsat's most striking images
Many of the images in these series are breathtaking. Earth's landscapes have been the focus of many artists. Landsat allows us to view landscapes from another vantage point, revealing the beauty of our planet from above. Print as many of these images as you like and share them with people at your party, setting up an art gallery of Landsat images.
- Landsat's Greatest Hits - play this slideshow or print and frame these change pairs for people at your party, sharing some of the Earth's best images captured by Landsat
- Earth as Art - A USGS collection of some of Landsat's most beautiful images from around the world. Print and frame them, putting them up around the room for people to admire or comment on. Host a contest where people vote on their favorite or write an essay about why it's there favorite. If there is one from your area, share with us on our facebook page why it's a beautiful image and what it looks like from the ground.
- Find your own images from Landsat 5 and Landsat 7. These pages from NASA's Visible Earth host a number of options to consider. Some may even be from where you live.
Invite Local Speakers to Talk
Landsat data is used in a number of careers, sometimes without people even realizing it! This list is to help you find people who use Landsat in your area.
- Land Managers - contact local county or state government land managing agencies
- Farmers - Contact large scale vegetable, grain, or fruit farm owners or the agriculture department at your local university
- Earth Scientists - Contact your local university geography, geology, or atmospheric science departments
- Global Information Systems (GIS) Specialists - Contact conservation groups or civil engineers, or city planners
- Foresters - Contact the forestry department at your local university or state and local land managing agencies
- Park Managers - Contact your local park and recreation department
- Google Earth Users - Have you ever used Google maps? Landsat contributes to the maps that Google creates.
- Water resource managers - Contact irrigation specialists or your state or local land managing agencies
- Climate Scientists - Contact your local university's natural resource department
- Local Historians - Contact through your local library, history museum, or university's history department
- Educators/Teachers - Contact science teachers at your local school
- Ecologists - Contact through your local university's biology or ecology department
Work with local schools and classrooms
Share these resources with your local school districts or after school groups. Work with teachers to prepare students who you invite to your launch party.
