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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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ATLAS captures returning photons in this 2.6-foot, 46-pound telescope.

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. 

Download high resolution video here.

Video Credit: NASA/GSFC

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 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.

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.

Official ICESat-2 mission patch logo.

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. 

Download high resolution video here.

Video Credit: NASA/GSFC

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

#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

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.

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Video Credit: NASA/GSFC

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

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

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

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.

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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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Learn more about ICESat-2!

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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 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

In this artist's concept of ICESat-2, the satellite's laser beams are visible as it orbits.

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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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.

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.

Download high resolution video here

Writing a paper using ICESat-2 data, or showing ICESat-2 data in a presentation?  Want to include an image of the spacecraft?  See below for a collection of NASA approved images of the ICESat-2 spacecraft.

You have 10 days from 01-Apr-2020 to download the file(s) here
 

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).