ICESat-2 Spacecraft Arrival

NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) arrives in its shipping container aboard a heavy transport truck on June 12, 2018, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. ICESat-2 was shipped from the Northrop Grumman facility in Gilbert, Arizona, where it was built and tested. The satellite is scheduled to launch Sept. 12, 2018, on the final United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg. ICESat-2 will measure the height of a changing Earth, one laser pulse at a time, 10,000 laser pulses a second. The satellite will carry the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System. ICESat-2 will help scientists investigate why, and how much our planet's frozen and icy areas, called the cryosphere, is changing in a warming climate.