ICESat-2
ICESat-2 (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite 2), part of NASA's Earth Observing System, is a satellite mission for measuring ice sheet elevation and sea ice thickness, as well as land topography, vegetation characteristics, and clouds. ICESat-2, a follow-on to the ICESat mission, was launched on 15 September 2018 onboard Delta II as the final flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, into a near-circular, near-polar orbit with an altitude of approximately 496 km (308 mi). It was designed to operate for three years and carry enough propellant for seven years. The satellite orbits Earth at a speed of 6.9 kilometers per second (4.3 mi/s).
Artist's impression of ICESat-2 in orbit | |||||
| Mission type | Remote sensing | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | NASA | ||||
| COSPAR ID | 2018-070A | ||||
| SATCAT no. | 43613 | ||||
| Website | icesat-2 | ||||
| Mission duration | Planned: 3 years Elapsed: 5 years, 4 months, 29 days | ||||
| Spacecraft properties | |||||
| Bus | LEOStar-3 | ||||
| Manufacturer | Orbital Sciences/Orbital ATK | ||||
| Launch mass | 1,514 kg (3,338 lb) | ||||
| Payload mass | 298 kg (657 lb) | ||||
| Dimensions | At launch: 2.5 × 1.9 × 3.8 m (8.2 × 6.2 × 12.5 ft) | ||||
| Power | 1200 W | ||||
| Start of mission | |||||
| Launch date | 15 September 2018, 13:02 UTC | ||||
| Rocket | Delta II 7420-10C | ||||
| Launch site | Vandenberg SLC-2W | ||||
| Contractor | United Launch Alliance | ||||
| Orbital parameters | |||||
| Reference system | Geocentric | ||||
| Regime | Low Earth | ||||
| Semi-major axis | 6,859.07 km (4,262.03 mi) | ||||
| Eccentricity | 0.0002684 | ||||
| Perigee altitude | 479.10 km (297.70 mi) | ||||
| Apogee altitude | 482.78 km (299.99 mi) | ||||
| Inclination | 92.0002° | ||||
| Period | 94.22 minutes | ||||
| Velocity | 6.9 km/s (4.3 mi/s) | ||||
| Epoch | 8 March 2019, 15:04:15 UTC | ||||
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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. ICESat-2 also has the ability to detect seafloor topography up to 100 feet (30m) below the surface in clear watered coastal areas. Because the great changes of polar ice cover in global warming are not quantified, one of the main purposes of ICESat-2 is measuring the changing of the elevation of ice sheets by its laser system and lidar to quantify the influence of melting ice sheet in sea-level raising. Additionally, the high accuracy of multiple pulses allows collecting measurement of the heights of sea ice to analyze its change rate during the time.
The ICESat-2 spacecraft was built and tested by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems in Gilbert, Arizona, while the on board instrument, ATLAS, was built and managed by Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The ATLAS instrument was designed and built by the center, and the bus was built by and integrated with the instrument by Orbital Sciences (later Orbital ATK). The satellite was launched on a Delta II rocket provided by United Launch Alliance. This was the last launch of the Delta II rocket.