Delta II ICESat-2 Spacecraft Mate to PLA

Inside the high bay of the Astrotech Space Operations facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians prepare to attach NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) to the payload adapter, on Aug. 20, 2018. The satellite is being prepared for its scheduled 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 (ATLAS). ICESat-2 will help scientists investigate why, and how much our planet's frozen and icy areas, called the cryosphere, are changing in a warming climate.