Photon Phriday: One Phull Orbit
- Visualizations by:
- Kel Elkins
- Edited by:
- Ryan Fitzgibbons
- Scientific consulting by:
- Kaitlin Harbeck,
- Nathan T. Kurtz, and
- Thomas A. Neumann
- Produced by:
- Ryan Fitzgibbons
- Support:
- Kaitlin Harbeck
- View full credits
Music: "Sun Age," "Data Visions," "Water Memory," Universal Production Music.
Complete transcript available.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Animator
- Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (KBRwyle)
Visualizer
- Kel Elkins (USRA) [Lead]
Editor
- Ryan Fitzgibbons (KBRwyle) [Lead]
Scientists
- Kaitlin Harbeck (SGT) [Lead]
- Nathan T. Kurtz (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
- Thomas A. Neumann (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
Producer
- Ryan Fitzgibbons (KBRwyle) [Lead]
Project support
- Kaitlin Harbeck (SGT) [Lead]
Technical support
- Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET)
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Related pages
Photon Phriday
Aug. 29, 2019, 8 a.m.
Read morePhoton Phriday is a weekly look at what ICESat-2 is measuring as it orbits the Earth. ICESat-2 Project Scientist Tom Neumann takes a look back at some recent passes in celebration of the first year on orbit for the mission. Follow @NASA_ICE for new Photon Phridays and results from NASA Killer Tracks MusicComplete transcript available.
ATLAS: Laser Focus
Jan. 7, 2015, 6 a.m.
Read moreLaser Focus: TimingDeputy Systems Engineer Phil Luers explains how the ATLAS transmitter and receiver subsystems come together to calculate the timing of photons, which, in turn, measure the elevation of ice.Complete transcript available.Music: by Christophe Lebled, Pierre Jacquot, Koka Media. Laser Focus: The ReceiverOpto-Mechanical Engineer Tyler Evans explains how the photons that bounce back from Earth are received and filtered by the ATLAS telescope.For complete transcript, click here. Laser Focus: The TransmitterOpto-Mechanical Engineer Tyler Evans illustrates how the laser is transmitted from the ATLAS instrument on the ICESat-2 spacecraft.For complete transcript, click here.
ICESat-2 Ground Track
Aug. 10, 2020, 8 p.m.
Read moreThis is a long, slow visualization showing one complete ICESat-2 ground track over the course of 6 minutes. ICESat-2 (short for Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite -2), launched Sept. 15, 2018, uses lasers and a very precise detection instrument to measure the elevation of Earth’s surface. ICESat-2 is in a polar orbit which provides high coverage near the poles where ice elevations are changing relatively quickly. This visualization shows one complete orbit ground track.
ICESat-2 Orbit
Nov. 3, 2017, 11 a.m.
Read moreICESat-2 orbiting Earth: starting with global view building up ground track, then riding the satellite view, then back to a global view with full ground track ICESat-2 is a spacecraft designed to accurately measure land and ice elevations on Earth. By comparing observations from different times, scientists will be able to study changes in elevations. ICESat-2 will be in a polar orbit which will provide high coverage near the poles where ice elevations are changing relatively quickly. This visualization shows ICESat-2 s global coverage which repeats about once every 90 days.The ATLAS lidar on ICESat-2 uses 3 pairs of laser beams to measure the earth’s elevation and elevation change. As a global mission, ICESat-2 will collect data over the entire globe, however the ATLAS instrument is optimized to measure land ice and sea ice elevation in the polar regions.For more information on ICESat-2 click here. ICESat-2 orbit with ground track (short version)