Delta II ICESat-2 Transport Can Installation and Lift to Transpo

Inside the Astrotech Space Operations high bay at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the protective canister is lowered down over NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2), on Aug. 25, 2018. The satellite will be transported to Space Launch Complex 2 where it will be hoisted up by crane and attached to the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket. Launch is scheduled for Sept. 15, 2018. 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 the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS). ICESat-2 will help scientists investigate why, and how much our planet's frozen and icy areas, called the cryosphere, are changing in a warming climate.