ICESat
ICESat (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite) was a satellite mission for measuring ice sheet mass balance, cloud and aerosol heights, as well as land topography and vegetation characteristics. It operated as part of NASA's Earth Observing System. ICESat was launched 13 January 2003 on a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California into a near-circular, near-polar orbit with an altitude of approximately 600 km. It operated for seven years before being retired in February 2010, after its scientific payload shut down and scientists were unable to restart it.

The ICESat mission was designed to provide elevation data needed to determine ice sheet mass balance as well as cloud property information, especially for stratospheric clouds common over polar areas. It provides topography and vegetation data around the globe, in addition to the polar-specific coverage over the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. The satellite was found useful in assessing important forest characteristics, including tree density.
Q26540
satellite
Concept
Q12599
ice sheet
Concept
Q3276889
mass balance
UNK
Q104541
aerosol
Concept
Q134435
topography
Concept
Q23548
NASA
Concept
Q1277644
Earth Observing System
MEDIA
Q49538
Delta II
MISC
Q697175
rocket
Concept
Q461492
Vandenberg Air Force Base
LOC
Q216417
stratospheric cloud
Concept
Q223
Greenland
LOC
Q571430
Antarctic ice sheet
Concept
Q4421
tree density
Concept
Q50019
ICESat
MISC
Q50019
ICESat
MISC
Q50019
ICESat
MISC
2003-01-13T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
13 January 2003
DATE
2010-02-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
February 2010
DATE
item operated
part of
space launch vehicle
UTC date of spacecraft launch