This free NASA tool lets you make a personalized satellite photo — and it's the most fun you'll have on Earth Day | Tech Radar

Overview

News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest computing gadgets

Start exploring exclusive deals, expert advice and more

Details

Unlock and manage exclusive Techradar member rewards.

This free NASA tool lets you make a personalized satellite photo — and it's the most fun you'll have on Earth Day

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Unlock instant access to exclusive member features.

Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.

NASA has released an enjoyable free tool for Earth Day

It lets you spell your name using landscape features in satellite photos

You can share your creations or download them and print them later

This article is part of a series of sustainability-themed articles we're running to observe Earth Day 2026 and promote more sustainable practices. Check out all of our Sustainability Week 2026 content.

You’ve heard of writing your name in the stars, but what about writing your name on Planet Earth? That’s what's NASA’s latest tool is offering up, and it’s a fun way to celebrate Earth Day and demonstrates the variety of landscapes and features found on our blue planet.

Specifically, you’ll need to head over to NASA’s ‘Your Name in Landsat’ website and enter your name — or whatever word you want — into the box near the top of the page. Click the Enter button and you’ll see it spelled out, with each letter being represented by a letter hidden in a satellite photo.

For instance, try entering ‘Tech Radar’ and you’ll get nine images lined up next to each other. The first could be a rocky formation that resembles the letter T, the second a swirling oceanic current that looks like an E, and so on.

I turned the Artemis II mission's most stunning Earth photo into an i Phone wallpaper

I counted every gadget in my home for Earth Day — and the results surprised me

Orbital is planning to launch AI data centers into space to solve power and cooling issues

The result is an entertaining little digital toy that is an enjoyable way to brighten someone’s day. You can share a link to your creation or download it, ready to be sent over email or maybe printed out as a postcard.

And if you mouse over any of the images used to spell your chosen word, you’ll see the location it was sourced from, as well as its longitude and latitude. That enables you to check it out on a site like Google Maps if you want to see the landscape in more detail.

NASA’s latest plaything is designed to coincide with Earth Day, which landed on April 22 this year. The event, which has been running since 1970, is dedicated to supporting environmental protection efforts around the world — you can read our series of articles celebrating it during Sustainability Week 2026.

It therefore makes sense for NASA to time its Your Name in Landsat tool to line up with this annual event. Its images show the vast variety of environments found across the globe and might help to inspire a touch of activism in those who use it.

According to NASA, “The satellite images used in this interactive [tool] are part of Landsat's extensive record, spanning more than 50 years.” They were sourced from NASA Earth Observatory, NASA Worldview, USGS Earth Explorer, and ESA Sentinel Hub, and you can download them individually if you like. Landsat is the longest-running satellite imagery program in the world and has been going strong since 1972.

Unfortunately, the downloaded images are not particularly large, so aren’t ideal for using as a poster or similarly-sized object. But they’re still a good way to explore the world and have a little fun while doing it.

Follow Tech Radar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

And of course you can also follow Tech Radar on Tik Tok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on Whats App too.

➡️ Read our full best mirrorless cameras guide

1. Best overall Nikon Z6 III
2. Best beginner Canon EOS R10
3. Best professional Canon EOS R5 Mark II
4. Best action Sony A9 III

Alex Blake has been fooling around with computers since the early 1990s, and since that time he's learned a thing or two about tech. No more than two things, though. That's all his brain can hold. As well as Tech Radar, Alex writes for i More, Digital Trends and Creative Bloq, among others. He was previously commissioning editor at Mac Format magazine. That means he mostly covers the world of Apple and its latest products, but also Windows, computer peripherals, mobile apps, and much more beyond. When not writing, you can find him hiking the English countryside and gaming on his PC.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

1'Just use the manual': I followed Chat GPT's PC-building instructions, and all I got was a huge headache and a schooling on prompting

2'Humans being optional': Gartner says robots will dominate workload handling in 50% of new warehouses by 2030

3'An AI-led defense strategy that's overseen by humans': Google is introducing more agents to its 'full AI stack' to allow AI security at 'infinite scale'

4I've been a Spotify subscriber for 17 years — here are the top 5 plug-ins I recommend for the music streamer

5 Nintendo teases they'd 'like to adhere' to the Super Mario Galaxy Movie's lore in future games — including Princess Peach's backstory

Tech Radar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Key Takeaways

• News, deals, reviews, guides and more on the newest computing gadgets

• Start exploring exclusive deals, expert advice and more

• Unlock and manage exclusive Techradar member rewards

• This free NASA tool lets you make a personalized satellite photo — and it's the most fun you'll have on Earth Day

• When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission