ICESat-2 Deployment and Laser Pulses
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
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Measuring the Ice
ICESat-2 will measure the height of ice and its features, such as this glacial melt pond photographed July 16, 2014, over Alaska.
NASA Space Laser Heads on a Road Trip
To deliver the instrument safely to the spacecraft for assembly and testing, the ATLAS team developed special procedures for packing, transporting and monitoring the sensitive hardware.
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Video Credit: NASA/GSFC
Snapchat Story
Launch countdown Snapchat story aired on August 22, 2018.
Assembling ICESat-2's ATLAS
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.
ICESat-2, illustrated
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.
ATLAS box structure checkout
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.
Laser Focus: The Receiver
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 Elevates Our View of Earth
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.
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Video Credit: NASA/GSFC
ICESat-2 By the Numbers: Orbits
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.
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Video Credit: NASA/GSFC
ICESat-2 Measures Slope
The ATLAS lidar on ICESat-2 uses 6 laser beams to measure the earth’s elevation and elevation change. This animation shows the beam tracks on Earth as the satellite passes overhead.
Video Credit: NASA/GSFC
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Trees around the GLOBE
Join the trees around the GLOBE campaign to help take tree height measurements and compare them with what ICESat-2 is measuring from space.
Pho Movie Trailer
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
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ATLAS's beryllium telescope
ATLAS captures returning photons in this 2.6-foot, 46-pound telescope.
Sea Ice Thickness
This animation shows how ICESat-2 measures sea ice thickness.
ICESat-2's beryllium telescope during assembly
An engineer attaches components to ICESat-2's beryllium telescope, before it is attached to the satellite's ATLAS instrument.
Laser Focus: The Transmitter
Opto-Mechanical Engineer Tyler Evans illustrates how the laser is transmitted from the ATLAS instrument on the ICESat-2 spacecraft.
Video Credit: NASA/GSFC
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Pre-Flight Checkups for ICESat-2
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 By the Numbers: Microradians
With extreme cold-weather gear, scientific instruments, and two tank-like snow machines called PistenBullys, ICESat-2 scientists traversed along section of the 88-degree south latitude line in an arc around the South Pole.
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Video Credit: NASA/GSFC
Photon Jump
Pho, a plucky bright green photon of light, must travel from a NASA spacecraft down to Earth and back again to help complete a crucial science mission in this educational short film.
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ICESat-2’s Telescope
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.
ICESat-2's footprint
If ICESat-2 flew over a football field, it would take measurements within each yard line (green circles) – plus there's six of these green laser beams taking measurements at once!
The first ICESat instrument only fired 40 times a second, and would have taken a measurement in each end zone (red circles).
The ATLAS box structure on a shaker
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.
ICESat-2's 'Box Structure'
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.