In the mid-1960's, the idea of a civilian Earth resources satellite was conceived by the Department of the Interior of the United States. Later the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) embarked on an initiative to develop and launch the first Earth-monitoring satellite to meet the needs of resource managers and Earth scientists. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) entered into a partnership with NASA in the early 1970's to assume responsibility for archiving data and distributing data products. On July 23, 1972, NASA launched the first in a series of satellites designed to provide repetitive global coverage of the Earth's land masses.

Since 1986, France has launched its own series of Earth observation satellites (SPOT). The number of Earth observation programs using these satellites as is the variety of sensors on board.

LANDSAT and SPOT deliver multispectral images. Their sensors primarily detect radiation reflected from the Earth's surface in the visible and near-infrared (IR) wavelengths. Recently, radar satellites (ERS-1, RADARSAT, JERS-1) have extend the number of images available by providing radar images.

The archives of collected data provide a rich collection of information about the Earth's land surface. Major characteristics and changes to the surface of the planet can therefore be detected, measured, and analyzed. The effects of desertification, deforestation, pollution, cataclysmic volcanic activity, and other natural and anthropogenic events can be examined using data acquired from the series of Earth-observing satellites. The information obtainable from historic and current data play a key role in studying changes through time.