1 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:08,390 Neumann: We're at Vandenberg Air Force Base, we're about 20 minutes before the launch of ICESat-2. 2 00:00:08,390 --> 00:00:13,400 you might see the white light off in the distance that's the Delta II rocket. 3 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:17,720 Gardner: It kind of feels like an idea that was just always going to just stay an 4 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:22,520 idea, but no it's it's real. It's sitting on top of the rocket. Neumann: You know, for me 5 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:26,660 it's kind of surreal like you say. It's been 10 years, it's hard to believe. It's 6 00:00:26,660 --> 00:00:29,420 like, we're really here? this is really about to happen? 7 00:00:29,420 --> 00:00:31,160 It's totally cool. [launch countdown] 8 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:42,260 [music] 9 00:00:42,260 --> 00:00:44,260 [plane flying by] 10 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:50,540 [music] 11 00:00:51,100 --> 00:00:54,080 VO: This is Dr. Tom Neumann. 12 00:00:54,860 --> 00:00:57,440 Over the years, his work has taken him to some pretty 13 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:02,000 remote areas to study changes in the ice regions of our planet, 14 00:01:02,020 --> 00:01:07,440 and his research, among many others, has defined the goals of the new NASA satellite, 15 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:12,280 the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2. 16 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:15,140 [launch commentary] Neumann: The story of ICESat-2 really begins 17 00:01:15,180 --> 00:01:19,900 with ICESat-1. ICESat told us all kinds of cool things about the ice sheet and 18 00:01:19,900 --> 00:01:23,060 about sea ice that we didn't really know to ask. 19 00:01:23,060 --> 00:01:24,560 That data allowed us to measure 20 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:29,000 elevation change of ice sheets in a way that we hadn't been able to before, and 21 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:31,759 showed that all the action on the ice sheets--the places that we're really 22 00:01:31,759 --> 00:01:36,770 changing quickly--were around the edges. So when we were thinking about what 23 00:01:36,770 --> 00:01:40,820 could we do better next time, we knew that was one key component. 24 00:01:40,820 --> 00:01:44,810 VO: In addition to the edges of the ice sheets, ICESat-2 needed to measure a dimension 25 00:01:44,810 --> 00:01:50,240 of sea ice that remained elusive: its thickness. To figure out how thick sea 26 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:55,069 ice is, you can measure the height of ice sticking out of the ocean, or freeboard, 27 00:01:55,069 --> 00:02:00,550 and compare it to the height of water between the sea ice floes, called leads. 28 00:02:00,550 --> 00:02:07,250 Neumann: The problem is sea ice is really dynamic, and those cracks open and close, various 29 00:02:07,250 --> 00:02:11,660 places in the ice pack throughout the day, throughout the year, and what we need 30 00:02:11,660 --> 00:02:16,160 to do is have measurements of the ocean whenever it's available, wherever it 31 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:18,400 occurs in the sea ice pack. 32 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:21,800 VO: To solve that problem, ICESat-2 was designed with a fast- 33 00:02:21,860 --> 00:02:26,780 pulsing laser instrument to take precise near-continuous measurements across its 34 00:02:26,780 --> 00:02:29,080 three pairs of beams. 35 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:31,520 For ten years, everything about the mission was 36 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,959 designed to measure rapid changes in the most rapidly changing part of the 37 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:40,020 cryosphere, but it has to get into space first. 38 00:02:40,020 --> 00:02:42,500 Neumann: But it's a huge, huge transition 39 00:02:42,500 --> 00:02:44,900 going from the ground to in space. 40 00:02:44,900 --> 00:02:47,940 We've spent better part of ten years, 41 00:02:48,060 --> 00:02:52,340 thousands of people have been involved, and actually seeing the rocket there on 42 00:02:52,340 --> 00:02:56,240 the pad with all of that work kind of all put together and in one place, it's 43 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:57,640 it's pretty amazing. 44 00:02:57,640 --> 00:03:00,420 And then getting up in the middle of the night to go watch 45 00:03:00,420 --> 00:03:05,500 the actual launch, it's sort of surreal in a way because 46 00:03:05,500 --> 00:03:07,960 you've put so much time into it for so long, and 47 00:03:07,980 --> 00:03:13,120 actually seeing it over there, it's like, whoa, you know, it's a-- 48 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:14,840 it's a big deal. 49 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:20,060 [launch countdown on radio] Four, three--engine start--two, one, zero--liftoff 50 00:03:20,060 --> 00:03:34,680 [music, crowd cheering] 51 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:41,160 [rocket sound, cheering, music] 52 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:45,080 Good job, Dad. Thanks, sweetie. 53 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:49,180 That was awesome, totally cool. 54 00:03:49,180 --> 00:03:54,160 There it went. That was ATLAS, the last Delta II, heading on up. 55 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:01,500 Neumann: So ATLAS has been turned on over the course of the first few weeks of the mission, 56 00:04:01,500 --> 00:04:04,660 really culminating for us with the laser. 57 00:04:04,700 --> 00:04:09,660 So this is our first look at sea ice data from ICESat-2, and it looks fantastic. 58 00:04:09,660 --> 00:04:13,440 The signal levels look great, we've got plenty of photons there. 59 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:15,930 We're capturing ridges. We can clearly 60 00:04:15,930 --> 00:04:20,360 see the ocean. All sorts of cool stuff in there, and this is just our first data. 61 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:22,840 It's only going to get better from here on out. 62 00:04:22,840 --> 00:04:25,280 VO: The data from ICESat-2 is well on 63 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:29,760 its way into digging deeper into the unknown dimensions of sea ice, ice sheets 64 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:34,880 and glaciers. It will shed light on changes in sea level and global weather 65 00:04:34,900 --> 00:04:40,920 patterns and once again find new things about ice we didn't know to ask. 66 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:48,060 [plane noise, music] 67 00:04:48,060 --> 00:04:51,960 So my heart is definitely racing, I don't know if anyone else's. 68 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:54,460 This is the stuff nerds dream of. 69 00:04:54,460 --> 00:04:59,000 Slight chance the flight may see ICESat-2 in their center wind screen. 70 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:04,240 Ten seconds. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. It's coming. 71 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:08,080 Five. Four. Three. Two. 72 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:10,480 [music]