WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

Both halves of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II rocket payload fairing were moved inside ULA's Building B8337 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Technicians begin the process to remove them from their transporters. NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) will launch later this year on the final 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 a single instrument, the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System. ICESat-2 will help scientists investigate why, and how much our planet's frozen and icy areas, called the cryosphere, is changing in a warming climate.