Icesat

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

---

General

Designation	27642 / 03002A
Launch date	13 Jan 2003
Country of origin	United States
Mission	Remote sensing
Perigee/Apogee	590 km
Inclination	94°
Period
Launch vehicle	Delta #294

Total cost of the mission is below $200 including the satellite, its launch and 3 years of operation.

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.

The first (primary) laser failed after 36 days of usage because of a design flaw. Service was resumed with the use of the second of its 3 lasers.

---

End of life

Out of service	Jan 2010
Cause	Altimeters ceased emitting light on 11 Oct 2009
Decay	30 Aug 2010

---

External resources

sat-index articles

http://icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov/

http://glas.wff.nasa.gov/

Technical data

---

---

Specifications

Prime contractor	Ball Aerospace
Platform	BCP-2000
Mass at launch	970 kg
Mass in orbit
Payload mass	298 kg
Dimension
Solar array
Stabilization	3-axis
DC power	730 W
Design lifetime	5 years

Carries the GLAS (Geoscience Laser Altimeter System) instrument. 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.

---