Photon Phriday: One Phull Orbit

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  • 
    ID: 13301 Produced Video

    Photon Phriday

    Aug. 29th, 2019
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Photon 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's ice-observing missions. || Photon Phrightday: Mount Terror, AntarcticaMusic: "The Body," Karl Casey @White Bat Audio, "Quantum Phantom," Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available. || Mt. RainierMusic: "Sea Mist," Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available. ||

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  • 
    ID: 11726 Produced Video

    ATLAS: Laser Focus

    Jan. 7th, 2015
    (updated Aug. 25th, 2023)

    Laser 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: "Electric Works" by Philippe Lhommet, Koka Media; "From Source to Sea" 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. ||

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  • 
    ID: 4848 Visualization

    ICESat-2 Ground Track

    Aug. 11th, 2020
    (updated Aug. 25th, 2023)

    This 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. ||

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  • 
    ID: 4373 Visualization

    ICESat-2 Orbit

    Nov. 3rd, 2017
    (updated Aug. 25th, 2023)

    ICESat-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 polar orbit from afar, then closer up. As we get close to the satellite, the 3 pairs of ICESat-2's ATLAS lidar laser beams begin to resolve. A ground track 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. ||

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