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NASA Invites You to Create Landsat-Inspired Arts and Crafts

The headshot image of Katy Mersmann

Katy Mersmann

Jul 01, 2021
Article

How?

  1. Search the Landsat Image Gallery for an image that inspires you.
  2. Get crafting! This can be anything from watercolor paintings to knitted accessories to a tile mosaic – whatever sparks your creativity.
  3. Share your creation with us on social media using the hashtag #LandsatCraft

Why?

For almost 50 years, Landsat satellites have collected images of Earth from space, representing the longest continuous space-based record of our planet’s surface. It’s a joint mission of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, and both scientists and the public have free access to the 9 million scenes in this invaluable archive. Landsat images provide the ability to observe changes in Earth’s landscapes and coastal regions over time.

The images can be strikingly beautiful – see the Earth as Art galleries from our partners at USGS and an eBook from NASA as examples – but they’re much more than that. Behind the images are highly calibrated data that land managers and policy makers use to make decisions about Earth’s resources and our environment. Landsat has long provided often-unique information about agricultural productivity, ice sheet dynamics, urban growth, forest monitoring, natural resource management, water quality and the impacts of climate change on our planet.

An embroidery hoop held in front of a white wall by two fingers. The embroidery is squares made of satin stitched straight lines, with three different shades of green, one color in each square.
Images of agriculture from space often combine bright colors and interesting shapes and lines. NASA Earth science social manager Katy Mersmann created embroidery based on an image of canola fields in Canada.
Credits: Katy Mersmann/NASA

In September, Landsat 9 is scheduled to launch and continue this legacy. In honor of the launch, we invite you to get creative and show us what Landsat means to you! Create art or make a craft that’s inspired by a favorite Landsat image or the satellite itself, and share it with us on social media.

Learn more about the history of the Landsat mission and Landsat 9 at landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov or with this USGS fact sheet.

Create and Share Your #LandsatCraft

After you have finished creating your Landsat-inspired craft or piece of art, take a picture and upload it to Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Make sure you use the hashtag #LandsatCraft so we know that you are taking part in the event.

If a #LandsatCraft post catches our eye, we may share your work on our @NASAEarth social media accounts. We may also feature your art in a NASA Flickr gallery. You can follow @NASAEarth on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for submission updates and featured art throughout the summer.

Image Resources for #LandsatCraft Inspiration

Landsat Image Gallery

USGS’s Earth as Art Galleries

Twitter: @NASA_Landsat or @USGSLandsat

Two mosaics of Antarctica side by side. On the left, is a physical mosaic, made of tiny light blue glass squares. A blue and gold mosaiced satellite is positioned just above Antartica. On the right, the mosaic looks like an image of Antartica from space, stitched together from individual satellite frames to show the whole continent, white against a black background.
Scientists created the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica by stitching together more than 1,000 Landsat 7 images; science writer Kate Ramsayer created her mosaic of Landsat 7 and Antarctica by arranging dozens of stained glass pieces.
Credits: Kate Ramsayer/NASA

#LandsatCraft Terms and Conditions

When submitting your image(s) to the #LandsatCraft campaign, you do confirm to NASA that:

  • The artwork was produced by you (i.e. your original work)
  • The contents of the artwork do not infringe the copyright or any other right of any third party
  • No inappropriate content
  • You affirm that you are either more than 18 years of age, or an emancipated minor, or possess legal parental or guardian consent. In any case, you affirm that you are over the age of 13.
  • In the event any individual is featured in the artwork, you represent and warrant that such individual agrees that NASA may use such individual’s name and likeness in connection with NASA’s use of the image hereunder.

Your artwork must comply with the terms of service for social media sites such as the following:

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/help/terms

Instagram: http://instagram.com/legal/terms/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tos?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/terms.php

By participating in the campaign, participants grant the U.S. government a royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, non-exclusive license to reproduce, display and distribute entries, in whole or in part, in any media now existing or subsequently developed, for any educational, promotional, publicity, exhibition, archival, scholarly and all other governmental purposes, and to have or permit others to do so on the government’s behalf. NASA will use reasonable efforts to mark any artwork reproduced by NASA with credit as feasible. NASA will not be required to seek any additional approval in connection with such uses.

Be advised that social media posts and websites that specifically list prices or “click here to purchase” wording cannot be shared by government accounts.

By Emily Fischer

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center