Previous Next 1 of 20 High in the Andes Mountains, Copahue is often obscured by clouds. But, in this image from a above, the stratovolcano can be seen billowing smoke. NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen The rugged landscape of the Grizzly Bear Complex in northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington is scarred by fires. Tens of thousands of acres show signs of burns, the smoke of which can be seen here. NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen For the past 30 years, Hawaii’s most active volcano, Kilauea, has spewed ash and lava. The Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō eruption can be seen here from November 2016. Legendary Mount Kilamanjaro’s peaks are seen here from an unusual, top-down point of view. NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen These salty lagoons from the black sea on the northern part of the Crimean Peninsula look almost alien. NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen Fed in part by the irrigation from the Murrumbidgee river, southeastern Australia’s Murray-Darling is considered the country’s food bowl. NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens and Jesse Allen Torrential downpours in Missouri and Illinois sent water south down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico in December 2015, flooding regions along the way. NASA Earth Observatory images by Jesse Allen Nicaragua’s Momotombo Volcano erupted for the first time in a century on December 4, 2015 NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen Sediment from the Salinas and Pajaro rivers rose in the Monterey Bay in February, leading to flooding, evacuations, and thousands of residents to lose electricity. NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen Intense rainfall triggered this immense landslide (brown streak to the left) in a remote region of Myanmar in July of last year. The landslide, which lasted just 160 seconds, stretched over three and a half miles. NASA Earth Observatory images by Jesse Allen In 2002, a series of storms from the Atlantic brought heavy weather inland. These winds spawned a number of tornados, including in La Plata, Maryland, where an F4 touched down, destroying the city’s downtown and all else in its 24-mile path. NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen The Badwater Basin in California’s Death Valley has striking resemblances to the landscape of the Red Planet. NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon Along the northeastern coast of Brazil, sand dunes can sometimes stretch miles inland. NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen They may be small in comparison to Central Park but Brooklyn’ famous Prospect Park and Green-Wood Cemetery offer Brooklynites green reprieve from the bricks and concrete. NASA image created by Jesse Allen The historic launchpads at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, where the Apollo 11 mission took off. NASA image by Robert Simmon In 2002, hanging glacier collapsed in the Caucasus Mountains, triggering an immense avalanche that spread debris more than 15 miles, burying small villages and killing dozens of people. NASA image by Jesse Allen As California battles drought, firefighters battle wild fires. The Freeway Fire destroyed 187 homes in November 2008. NASA image by Robert Simmon Mount Saint Helens erupted a cloud of ash and steam on the first day of October, 2004. NASA image courtesy Lawrence Ong A week after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, much of the city was still under water, as shown here in deep blue. NASA image courtesy Lawrence Ong Every spring and summer, some of Greenland’s glaciers melt. Last year, that melt arrived exceptionally early, as shown here in the blue melt ponds. NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen

EO-1 was never meant to be such a star. In fact, its original purpose was to test and refine technologies for future Earth imaging. It was launched on November 21, 2000 with 13 new technologies, three of which had never been tested. Many of the most stunning images were capture by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI).

“EO-1 has changed the way spectral Earth measurements are being made and used by the science community,” Betsy Middleton, EO-1’s project scientist said in a NASA news release.

But EO-1 did more than just prove a few instruments. During it’s mission the satellite captured a bunch of remarkable images, many of them firsts for a satellite, including the first to map of an active lava flow, first to measure a facility’s methane leak, and the first track Amazon forest regrowth.

Though the satellite has been retired, it will continue to orbit Earth until it burns up in the atmosphere in the 2050s. “We’ll probably just see EO-1 as a streak in the sky as it disintegrates,” Middleton said.

Editors' Recommendations