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

#PhotonPhriday was a weekly look at how ICESat-2 measures Earth – from Antarctic dunes to the Bahamas to Greenland’s glaciers. Check out the profiles of our planet below!

5/31    Disko Bay, Greenland

6/7      Pine Island Glacier

6/14    Grand Canyon, AZ

6/21    Nantucket, MA

6/28    Jakobshavn, Greenland

7/4      Yosemite Valley, CA

7/12    Crane Glacier, Antarctica

7/19    Cape Canaveral, FL

7/26    Crater Lake, OR

8/2      Mount Everest, Nepal

8/9      West Central Greenland meltponds

8/16    Los Angeles, CA

8/23    Great Bahama Bank

8/30    Dunes in Morocco; Megadunes in Antarctica

9/6      Nares Strait, Greenland

9/13    Gilbert, AZ

9/20    Nordenskiold Glacier, Greenland

9/27    Sequoia National Park, CA

10/4    Lake Mead, NV

10/11  Denali, AK

10/18  Rhine, France

10/25  Norwegian fjords

10/31  Transylvanian Alps

11/8    French Polynesian atolls

11/15  Forests of Botswana

11/22  Smoke clouds from Sonoma Fires

11/29  Black Forest (Germany), Black Sea (Istanbul), Black Canyon (Gunnison, CO)

12/6    San Francisco, CA

12/13  Cascade Mountains, Washington

10/29/21 Photon 'Phright Day' Look at ghost islands

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.

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.

ICESat-2 will use six laser beams to measure the height of ice, as illustrated in this not-to-scale artist's rendering. This illustration is an outcome of the ICESat-2/SCAD Collaborative Student Project.

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.

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.

Hear the sounds of Chinstrap Penguins

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

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

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.

This animation shows how ICESat-2 measures sea ice thickness.

To develop the computer programs that will crunch the raw data gathered by ICESat-2, the mission flew a series of campaigns with the MABEL instrument, which gathers similar information.

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

The Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, is a laser altimeter that will measure the heights of Earth’s surfaces. This animation shows deployment of ICESat-2's solar panels, door, and laser pulses.

Video Credit: NASA/GSFC

Download high resolution video here

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

Launch countdown Snapchat story aired on August 22, 2018.

ICESat-2 is an incredibly precise space laser that features the latest in NASA technology To measure ice heights, engineers have to take ICESat-2’s instrument ATLAS to the extreme – sometimes going big, sometimes going small, but always keeping it precise.

Download high resolution video here.

Video Credit: NASA/GSFC

Hear the sounds of Gentoo Penguins

PhoREAL Geospatial Analysis Toolbox Demonstration 2020

ICESat-2 is an incredibly precise space laser that features the latest in NASA technology To measure ice heights, engineers have to take ICESat-2’s instrument ATLAS to the extreme – sometimes going big, sometimes going small, but always keeping it precise.

Download high resolution video here.

Video Credit: NASA/GSFC