KSC-02pd2048

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - On the launch tower on NASA's Space Launch Complex 2 (SLC-2), Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., a solid rocket booster is lifted into an upright position as preparations continue to mate it to a Delta II rocket. The rocket will carry the ICESat and CHIPSat satellites into Earth orbits. ICESat is a 661-pound satellite known as Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) that will revolutionize our understanding of ice and its role in global climate change and how we protect and understand our home planet. It will help scientists determine if the global sea level is rising or falling. It will look at the ice sheets that blanket the Earth's poles to see if they are growing or shrinking. It will assist in developing an understanding of how changes in the Earth's atmosphere and climate effect polar ice masses and global sea level. CHIPSat, a suitcase-size 131-pound satellite, will provide invaluable information into the origin, physical processes and properties of the hot gas contained in the interstellar medium. This can provide important clues about the formation and evolution of galaxies since the interstellar medium literally contains the seeds of future s

Date

2002-10-24

Collection

KSC

Archive

NASA Image and Video Library

Type

photograph

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