ICESat-2
Artist's impression of ICESat-2 in orbit
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| Mission type | Remote sensing |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| Website | http://icesat-2.gsfc.nasa.gov/ |
| Mission duration | 3 years |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Bus | LEOStar-3 |
| Manufacturer | Orbital Sciences |
| Launch mass | 1,324 kilograms (2,919 lb) |
| Power | 1200 watts |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 2018 |
| Rocket | Delta II 7320-10C |
| Launch site | Vandenberg SLC-2W |
| Contractor | ULA |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Perigee | 496 kilometers (308 mi) |
| Apogee | 496 kilometers (308 mi) |
| Inclination | 92.0 degrees |
| Epoch | Planned |
ICESat-2 (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite 2), part of NASA's Earth Observing System, is a planned satellite mission for measuring ice sheet elevation, sea ice freeboard as well as land topography and vegetation characteristics. ICESat-2 is a planned follow-on to the ICESat mission. It will be launched in 2018 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California into a near-circular, near-polar orbit with an altitude of approximately 496 km. It is being designed to operate for 3 years, and will carry enough propellant for 7 years.
The ICESat-2 mission is designed to provide elevation data needed to determine ice sheet mass balance as well as vegetation canopy information. It will provide topography measurements of cities, lakes and reservoirs, oceans and land surfaces around the globe, in addition to the polar-specific coverage.
The ICESat-2 project is being managed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The sole instrument is being designed and built by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and the bus is being provided by Orbital ATK. The satellite will launch on a Delta II rocket provided by United Launch Alliance.
The sole instrument on ICESat-2 will be the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS), a space-based LIDAR. ATLAS will time the flight of laser photons from the satellite to Earth and back; computer programs will use the travel time from multiple pulses to determine elevation.
The ATLAS laser will emit visible laser pulses at 532 nm wavelength. The laser is being developed and built by Fibertek, Inc. As ICESat-2 orbits, the ATLAS will generate six beams arranged in three pairs, with the pairs 3.3 km apart, in order to better determine the surface’s slope and provide more ground coverage. ATLAS will take elevation measurements every 70 cm along the satellite’s ground path.
The laser will fire at a rate of 10 kHz. Each pulse sends out about 20 trillion photons, almost all of which are dispersed or deflected as the pulse travels to Earth’s surface and bounces back to the satellite. About a dozen photons from each pulse return to the instrument and are collected in a beryllium telescope.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center will manage ICESat-2 science data.
ICESat-2 has four science objectives:
In addition, ICESat-2 will take measurements of the height of oceans, inland water bodies like reservoirs and lakes, cities, and ground movements after events like earthquakes or landslides.
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