One year ago today, the Landsat 8 satellite shot into orbit to observe and collect seasonal information of giant landmasses like North America, from miles above the ground. After its first year circling the globe, the satellite has produced a rather unique image of the United States that almost looks like a cubist painting.The map, above, is one of the first complete views of the US from the Landsat 8. The satellite is programmed to collect images of the planet in strips, also called swaths. According to NASA's site, "Each orbit follows a predetermined ground track so that the same path is imaged," or photographed, "each time an orbit is repeated." The result is a collection of land stripes that make our country look like a collage of rectangular, textured landforms.Though this map does not really reflect a cubist work in the vein of someone like Picasso or Delaunay, it's crazy that this machine gave us an idiosyncratic image of America on its own birthday. If we could give it a gift in return, we would. At least we can wish it a happy birthday (and a healthy next trip around the globe) on its Facebook wall.Image Credit: NASA/David Roy