Month: September 2018

NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, a mission to measure the changing height of Earth’s ice, is scheduled to launch Saturday, Sept. 15, with a 40-minute window opening at 5:46 a.m. PDT (8:46 a.m. EDT). The spacecraft will lift off from Space Launch Complex 2 (SLC-2) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on the final launch of a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket. The U.S. Air Force 30th Space Wing weather officer reported they are predicting a 100 percent chance of favorable weather on launch day.

Be sure to follow along during the live coverage events below.

NASA EDGE Tower Rollback Show, Friday, Sept. 14, at 6 p.m. PDT (9 p.m. EDT)
Watch live at:
NASA TV: www.nasa.gov/nasalive
NASA EDGE Facebook: www.facebook.com/nasaedgefan
NASA LSP Facebook: www.facebook.com/NASALSP
NASA EDGE YouTube: www.youtube.com/NASAedge
NASA EDGE Ustream: www.usream.tv/nasaedge

Guests:
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington
Doug McLennan, ICESat-2 project manager, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Kelly Brunt, ICESat-2 science team member, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Rex Engelhardt, mission manager, NASA’s Launch Services Program
Mic Woltman, chief, Fleet Systems Integration Branch, NASA’s Launch Services Program
Tim Dunn, launch director, NASA Kennedy Space Center
Tom Neumann, ICESat-2 deputy project scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Donya Douglas-Bradshaw, ATLAS instrument project manager, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Dana VanDersaral, mission assurance team, United Launch Alliance

Live Launch Coverage, Saturday, Sept. 15, 5:10 a.m. PDT (8:10 a.m. EDT)
Join us for updates from the countdown, here on the blog and on NASA TV.

NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, mission and launch teams today concluded a successful Launch Readiness Review. There are no technical issues being worked at this time. Teams are proceeding toward liftoff from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base on Saturday, Sept. 15, at 5:46 a.m. PDT (8:46 a.m. EDT) on a United Launch Alliance Delta II, the rocket’s final mission.

ICESat-2 will measure the height of our changing Earth, one laser pulse at a time, 10,000 laser pulses per second. The satellite will carry a single instrument, the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS), which measures the travel times of laser pulses to calculate the distance between the spacecraft and Earth’s surface. ICESat-2 will provide scientists with height measurements that create a global portrait of Earth’s third dimension, gathering data that can precisely track changes of terrain, including glaciers, sea ice and forests.

The U.S. Air Force 30th Space Wing weather officer indicated that they are predicting a 100 percent chance of favorable weather on launch day.

NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, is being prepared for liftoff Saturday aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The launch window opens at 8:46 a.m. EDT (5:46 a.m. PDT).

NASA will host a prelaunch mission briefing today at 4 p.m. EDT (1 p.m. PDT). The briefing will be broadcast on NASA TV. Scheduled participants are:

• Tom Wagner, ICESat-2 program scientist at NASA Headquarters
• Doug McLennan, ICESat-2 project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
• Cathy Richardson, Deputy Program Manager, Earth Science Projects Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• Tom Neumann, ICESat-2 deputy project scientist at Goddard
• Lori Magruder, ICESat-2 science definition team lead at the University of Texas at Austin
• Helen Fricker, ICESat-2 science definition team member at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• Bill Barnhart, ICESat-2 program manager at Northrop Grumman
• Tim Dunn, launch director at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
• Scott Messer, program manager for NASA Programs at United Launch Alliance
• 1st Lt. Daniel Smith, launch weather officer with the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg

Media and the public may ask questions during the briefing using #askNASA.

NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, is scheduled to launch Saturday, Sept. 15, at 5:46 a.m. PDT (8:46 a.m. EDT). There is a 40-minute launch opportunity within the spacecraft launch window, which extends for 2 hours, 34 minutes. The 40-minute window is determined by super-cold liquid oxygen temperature (cryogenic propellant) effects on the Delta II rocket. The team is targeting the earliest opportunity within the spacecraft window, which could shift based on launch operations.

NASA and United Launch Alliance launch and mission partners are gathered at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for the final week of final prelaunch activities for the agency’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2. The three-year mission is scheduled to launch at 8:46 a.m. EDT (5:46 a.m. PDT) on Saturday, Sept. 15, with liftoff aboard a ULA Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex-2 (SLC-2).

Launch of the ICESat-2 spacecraft also will mark the final flight of the Delta II, which has served as a workhorse for NASA, the U.S. military and other customers since its 1989 debut.

Several significant prelaunch milestones are complete. The ICESat-2 spacecraft has been transported from the Astrotech payload processing facility to SLC-2, where it has since been lifted, mated atop the rocket, and encapsulated inside the payload fairing that will protect it during the first minutes of flight.

Tune in Thursday for the prelaunch briefing at 4 p.m. EDT (1 p.m. PDT) on NASA TV, and be sure to join us here on NASA’s Launch Blog or on NASA TV for countdown coverage beginning Saturday at 8:10 a.m. EDT (5:10 a.m. PDT).