Delta II ICESat-2 Spacecraft Removal from Shipping Container
NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) is uncrated inside the airlock of the Astrotech processing facility on June 13, 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 from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg on the final United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket. 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.
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Keywords
Details
NASA ID
VAFB-20180613-PH_VMV01_0004
Date Created
June 13, 2018
Center
KSC
Media Type
image
Photographer
USAF 30th Space Wing/Vanessa Val
Location
Astrotech Space Operations
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