Launch Update: ICESat-2 Mission

This Saturday, at 8:46 a.m. ET, the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2, commonly referred to as “ICESat-2,” will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It is set to ride atop a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket. Once in orbit, ICESat-2 will focus on studying ice layers at the Earth’s poles, utilizing its sole instrument, the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS).

The ATLAS will emit a laser beam that is divided into six green beams, firing at an impressive rate of 10,000 pulses per second. Each pulse contains trillions of photons; while only a small fraction will return to the satellite, those that do will provide crucial data about the distance they traveled after reflecting off ice, terrain, vegetation, and more.

These measurements will be taken with a precision of every 28 inches (71 cm), resulting in a vast amount of data as it surveys the globe. For instance, ICESat-2 will be capable of monitoring annual changes in the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, with a remarkable accuracy of within 4 mm (0.16 inches).

Image from NASA/Goddard video

The primary objective of this mission is to track fluctuations in ice levels, particularly in the planet’s coldest regions. This data will be invaluable for researchers examining climate change and its global effects. The original ICESat-I employed a single laser, the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System, operating at a much slower rate of 40 pulses per second—250 times less than the new ICESat-2. Data from the previous ICESat-I and the IceBridge airborne campaign will serve as a benchmark for comparing the findings of ICESat-2.

Ultimately, it is the precision of these measurements that holds the most promise for advancing our understanding of climate dynamics.