Multimedia

Official ICESat-2 mission patch logo.

Laser Focus: The Receiver

Opto-Mechanical Engineer Tyler Evans explains how the photons that bounce back from Earth are received and filtered by the ATLAS telescope.

Video Credit: NASA/GSFC

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ICESat-2 Applications Town Hall at AGU 2020

Overview video of the Cryo2Ice Mission created by the European Space Agency. The orbit of CryoSat-2 has been slightly changed to align periodically with ICESat-2. This will provide almost simultaneous radar and lidar measurements over the same ice.

Hundreds of meltwater lakes hide deep beneath the expanse of Antarctica’s ice sheet. With a powerful laser altimeter system in space, NASA’s Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) is helping scientists “see” under the ice.

Drawing of ICESat-2 Satellite showing the laser emission and return.

Engineers are building and testing the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) for the ICESat-2 mission at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The Trees Around the GLOBE Student Research Campaign is a multi-year campaign for students and educators from around the world. This campaign highlights measurements of tree height and focuses on the scientific, cultural, and personal foundation of trees. After students take and collect data, their goal is to make sense of their data and develop presentations, posters, and research projects based on their data and data analysis. Students can also visualize and retrieve additional GLOBE Program data for use in these research projects. Click HERE to learn more.

Beyond icy areas, ICESat-2 will measure other ecosystems including forests, rain forests, deserts and urban areas. This 2-sided poster is an outcome of the ICESat-2/SCAD Collaborative Student Project.

This visualization depicts how ICESat-2 data is being used to study vegetation canopy.

For high resolution and different versions, visit the SVS Gallery.

Engineers check on the box structure section of the ATLAS instrument, with the optical bench — with telescope attached — in the foreground. ATLAS is the sole instrument on the ICESat-2 satellite, and will measure the height of Earth.

ICESat-2's instrument will take measurements every 2.5 feet along its ground path - mapping dips and drop-offs in the ice. This illustration is an outcome of the ICESat-2/SCAD Collaborative Student Project.

The box structure of the ATLAS instrument takes shape in the cleanroom at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, as engineers carefully connect and attach different electrical components and fiber optics.

ICESat-2 will measure the height of ice and its features, such as this glacial melt pond photographed July 16, 2014, over Alaska.

NASA cryospheric scientist Kelly Brunt and ICESat-2 Deputy Project Scientist Tom Neumann recall some of the highlights and challenges from the recent 88-South Antarctic Traverse.

Download high resolution video here.

Video Credit: NASA/GSFC

PhoREAL Geospatial Analysis Toolbox Demonstration 2020

Deputy Systems Engineer Phil Luers explains how the ATLAS transmitter and receiver subsystems come together to calculate the timing of photons, which, in turn, measure the elevation of ice.

Credits:
NASA/GSFC
Music: "Electric Works" by Philippe Lhommet, Koka Media; "From Source to Sea" by Christophe Lebled, Pierre Jacquot, Koka Media.

Download high resolution video here

The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) archives and distributes data from ICESat-2. Here is their intro video to the mission.

An engineer checks ICESat-2's box structure, shortly after its arrival in a NASA clean room in May. Over the next two years, engineers and technicians will attach electronics, optics, lasers, a telescope and more to the box, testing its function at each step.

In Photon Jump, a 3-minute short animation, a brave photon of light named Pho must travel from a NASA spacecraft down to Earth and back again to help complete a crucial science mission. The animation was created by the ICESat-2/SCAD Collaborative Student Project involving students and faculty from the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Video Credit: NASA/GSFC

Download high resolution video here

ICESat-2 will provide scientists with height measurements that create a global portrait of Earth’s third dimension, gathering data that can precisely track changes of terrain including glaciers, sea ice, forests and more.

Download full resolution video here.

Video Credit: NASA/GSFC

An engineer attaches components to ICESat-2's beryllium telescope, before it is attached to the satellite's ATLAS instrument.

Engineers and technicians check the fit of ICESat-2’s telescope to its sling, before moving it into place on the instrument’s optical bench.

The ATLAS box structure, with weights attached to simulate different components, is attached to a vibration table at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where it will be tested to see if it can withstand the jolts associated with a rocket launch.