ICESat

USA / NASA

Spacecraft nº:

USA satellite nº:

Ice, Cloud and land Elevation SATellite, also called EOS Laser ALT-1

Launch data:

Designation	27642 / 03002A
Launch date	13 Jan 2003 - 00:45 UT
Launch site	Va, SLC-2W
Launch vehicle	Delta 7320-10 (#D294)
Mission	Government / Civil: Earth Science
LEO Polar Earth orbit on:
Perigee / Apogee	585 x 601 km
Eccentricity	1,15E-04
Inclination	94 deg
Period	96.55 min

Credit: NASA

Specifications:

Prime contractor	Ball Aerospace, USA
Platform	BCP-2000
Operator	Earth Science Data and Information System (NASA)
Mass at launch	959 kg (1270 kg?)
Dry Mass,	882 kg (970 kg?)
Payload mass	298 kg
Dimension
Solar array
Stabilization	3-axis
DC power	730 W
Design lifetime	5 years

Illustration of ICESat being integrated at VAFB, CA (image credit: NASA, Boeing)

End of live:

End of Operation:
Cause:
Reentered date:	30 Aug 2010
Lifetime:

Mission details:

Icesat is part of NASA's Earth science program and was originally EOS Laser ALT-1. It carries the GLAS, a 1-meter telescope with a laser for lidar observations of the Earth and in particular the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets.
Satellite carries the GLAS (Geoscience Laser Altimeter System), which is a 1 metre telescope with a laser permitting lidar observations of the Earth and its polar ice sheets.
It will monitor the ice blanket of the poles. GLAS transmits four-nanosecond-wide pulses, one at 1,064 nm and another at 532 nm wavelengths, at a rate of 40 pulses/s. The infrared pulses are reflected from the ice surfaces, and the green line pulses from the atmosphere. The reflected pulses are collected by an 80 cm diameter telescope.

56 Gbit onboard storage. GPS receiver.
Provide multi-year elevation data needed to determine ice sheet mass balance as well as cloud property information, especially over polar areas.

External links:

EOportal.org Satellite description

Ref: #3(SD367,454), #6, #7, #15, #81, #84, #226, #242 - update: 28.03.15