What is the new NASA tool going viral? Spell your name in worldwide landscapes through satellite imagery

A new interactive experience from NASA is racing across social media feeds for a simple, delightful reason: it lets people spell their names using real satellite photos of Earth. Launched as part of Earth-focused public outreach, the browser tool turns typed letters into mosaics built from authentic landscapes, coastlines, deserts, rivers, mountains, captured from the orbit.

The project is called “Your Name in Landsat,” and it transforms decades of Earth-observation data into a playful, personal visual that doubles as a geography lesson.

What is ‘Your Name in Landsat’?

Your Name in Landsat is a web app that searches a vast archive of satellite imagery and matches natural features to letter shapes. Type a name or short word, and the tool assembles a collage where each character is represented by a different place on Earth whose contours resemble that letter.

Crucially, these are not illustrations or AI drawings. Every tile is a genuine satellite photograph drawn from the archive of the Landsat program, the longest continuous record of Earth’s land surface from space.

Users can swap alternate images for certain letters, explore where each landscape is located, and download the finished collage to share.

The science behind the images: The Landsat program

The Landsat program is a joint mission between NASA and the US Geological Survey that began in 1972. It represents the longest continuous space-based record of Earth’s land surface in history. For more than fifty years, Landsat satellites have systematically photographed the planet, creating a consistent visual timeline that scientists rely on to study environmental change.

These images are used to monitor deforestation, track glacier retreat, measure urban expansion, assess agricultural cycles, analyze drought patterns, and observe coastline and river evolution. Because the data are calibrated consistently across decades, researchers can compare imagery from the 1970s to today with scientific reliability.

How the tool works

When you enter text, the app queries a curated library of Landsat scenes where natural geography resembles alphabet forms. For example:

• A winding river bend might form an “S”
  
• A triangular desert dune pattern might resemble an “A”
  
• A jagged coastline can stand in for an “M”
  

Each letter tile is linked to a real location on Earth. Many letters have multiple options from different regions, encouraging users to explore the planet’s diversity while personalizing their collage.

“Your Name in Landsat” is a standout example of how half a century of rigorous Earth science can be translated into something playful without losing authenticity.

In the process, millions of people are discovering that the planet’s rivers, mountains, and deserts don’t just tell environmental stories, they can also spell your name.