Simple facts
Where is it? Las Vegas, Nevada [36.10457930, -115.1448612]
What do you see in the photo? Aerial shots taken at the start and end of the satellite’s operational lifespan
Which satellite took the photo? Landsat 7
When was the photo taken? July 4, 1999 and May 28, 2024
The last image, taken by the recently deprecated Landsat 7 satellite, shows the vast mass of Las Vegas in the heart of the Mojave Desert. The final photo reflects one of the satellite’s first shots, highlighting how “Sin City” rapidly expanded during the 25-year lifespan of the iconic spacecraft.
Landsat 7 is an Earth-obsessed satellite jointly owned by NASA and the USGS, and orbits the planet approximately every 99 minutes. It was released on April 15, 1999, and has since taken over 3.3 million images of the surface of the Earth, covering almost every square inch of the Earth.
On June 4th, the satellite received the final transmission from the operator and marked the official end of the mission after a year’s abolition process in which the spacecraft was removed from the path of other satellites before the fuel ran out. According to a USGS statement, Landsat 7 has been drifting in space for about 55 years, and eventually re-entering into the atmosphere and burning.
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The final image of the satellite was captured on May 28, 2024. It shows the metropolitan area of Las Vegas, including towns such as Henderson, Paradise and Spring Valley.
The final image was taken from the same distance and angle as one of the first shots of the satellite, taken on July 4, 1999. It shows how much the city has expanded.
Related: See all the best images of Earth from Space
Between 2000 and 2023, according to the USGS, the population in the Las Vegas metropolitan area ranged from 1.38 million to 2.33 million, an increase of about 69%. An estimated 2.4 million people lived in the area in 2025.
Lake Mead, an artificial reservoir on the Colorado River created by Hoover Dam, can also be seen in both satellite images. The lake is significantly smaller in the latest images, possibly due to increased water consumption in the areas they serve and the effects of climate change overlaid on humans. However, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory, lake sizes fluctuate naturally both in season and annually, making it difficult to communicate how the effects of anthropogenic factors can be influenced.
Landsat 7
Landsat 7 is the seventh satellite in the Landsat program and has been continuously capturing images of the Earth’s surface since 1972. This was a serious upgrade from previous iterations, especially good at taking pictures of urban areas.
The spacecraft played a major role in the development of mapping services, including Google Maps, capturing the unique perspectives of several iconic moments in recent history, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The satellite was designed to operate for only five years, but it surpasses this target despite suffering from a serious equipment failure in 2003. NASA previously reconsidered how it had fueled orbital satellites to extend its lifespan, but this initial operation was never attempted.
Currently, there are only two operational Landsat satellites circling our planet. Landsat 8 has been on track for over 12 years. Landsat 9 was released in September 2021.
The 10th Landsat satellite, named Landsat Next, is due to be launched by 2031. However, the funding is now uncertain thanks to the dramatic cuts in NASA’s budget proposed by the Trump administration, and mission experts are “assessing alternative mission architectures,” according to the Landsat Next Homepage.
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