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It is with a heavy heart that I announce that NASA Earth Science Communications has directed The Earth Observer to conduct an orderly shutdown of the publication. No new content will be published after Dec. 31, 2025.
While the sunset of The Earth Observer is bittersweet for our team, the good news is that all of the rich historical and descriptive content preserved on The Earth Observer's archives page will remain accessible to the world. If you've never checked this page out, I highly encourage you to do so. You'll find all of our archived issues saved in a PDF format, and - if you scroll down the page - you'll find an annotated bibliography with links to numerous entries about a variety of topics to provide the historic context of the progress and accomplishments of the Earth Observing System (EOS).
-Alan Ward, Executive Editor, The Earth Observer
More than 36 years ago, in March 1989, the first issue of The Earth Observer newsletter was released - see Figure 1. The three-page document contained one article that explained the rationale for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forgoing earlier plans to place instruments on NASA's first EOS polar platform - at that time envisioned as one of several large platforms operated by NASA, NOAA, Europe, and Japan, with numerous instruments on each platform. Along with this article, that first issue featured an EOS launch schedule, a list of publications and acronyms, and a personals section. Yes; personals. It's hard to believe that a NASA newsletter would feature personals, but remember that this first issue was published at a time before the internet was widely available. The newsletter served as a bridge to quickly connect hundreds of newly chosen EOS investigators scattered worldwide with the latest EOS program developments. The content of early issues included the latest reports from Investigators Working Group meetings, payload panel reviews, and instrument science team meetings. In short, before the Web, The Earth Observer was the thread that kept the various EOS teams connected.
