A continuation of the Landsat Program, Landsat 5 was jointly managed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Data from Landsat 5 was collected and distributed from the USGS's Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS). Landsat 5 had a maximum transmission bandwidth of 85 Mbit/s. It was deployed at an altitude of 705.3 km (438.3 mi), and it took about 16 days to scan the entire Earth. The satellite was an identical copy of Landsat 4 and was originally intended as a backup.

UoSAT-2, which is also known as UO-11 and OSCAR-11, is a British satellite orbiting in Low Earth Orbit. The satellite functions as an amateur radio transmitter (known as an OSCAR) and was built at the University of Surrey.