Final answer:
Landsat 8 was successfully launched on February 11, 2013, by a collaboration between NASA and the USGS. It continues to contribute to Earth sciences by providing essential imagery data for environmental monitoring, research, and various other applications.
Step-by-step explanation:
Landsat 8 is a part of a series of US Earth observation satellites, and it was successfully launched on February 11, 2013. The primary purpose of the Landsat program is to collect and provide valuable satellite imagery of Earth to be used for a plethora of different applications, including agriculture, geology, forestry, regional planning, and education. Over the past decades, imagery from the Landsat series of satellites has played a critical role in our understanding of land usage, natural disasters, environmental monitoring, and urban growth.
Collaboration between NASA and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) led to the continued success of the Landsat program with the launch of Landsat 8. This launch signifies the commitment to continue the longest-running enterprise for acquisition of satellite imagery. The successful deployment of Landsat 8 contributed significantly to Earth sciences, providing of imagery data essential for environmental monitoring and research.