The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, carried atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on November 21, 2020. Launch occurred at 9:17 a.m. PST (12:17 p.m. EST). The mission is an international collaboration between NASA and several partners, and it will collect the most accurate data yet on global sea level and how our oceans are rising in response to climate change. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center was responsible for launch management.
A cold and stable Antarctic vortex supported the development of the 12th-largest ozone hole on record in 2020. The hole reached its peak extent on September 20 at 24.8 million square kilometers.
Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio/Kathleen Gaeta (GSFC Interns): Lead Producer/Eric Nash (SSAI): Visualizer/Kathryn Mersmann (USRA): Graphics/Paul Newman (NASA/GSFC): Scientist/Susan Strahan (USRA): Scientist
Cameras outside the International Space Station captured dramatic views of Hurricane Zeta at 12:50 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday October 28, 2020 as the storm churned 200 miles south-southwest of New Orleans packing winds of 90 miles an hour.
Zeta is expected to make landfall near New Orleans later in the day Wednesday October 28 as a Category 2 hurricane before accelerating to the northeast.
As it moved inland heading north over western Louisiana, Laura was overflown by the NASA / JAXA GPM Core Observatory satellite on Wednesday August 26th, shortly before the storm made landfall, then again on Thursday August 27th, about 7 hours after making landfall, as shown in the animation above.
Landsat 9 is the latest satellite to continue the legacy of global observations of Earth’s land surface. With unmatched longevity, accuracy, and coverage, the Landsat program has been the cornerstone of global land imaging since 1972. Landsat 9 continues this tradition, and will carry us into the next 50 years of Earth observations. The two instruments aboard will make the most advanced measurements of any Landsat satellite.
Design and construction of the spacecraft and its instruments is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and operation and archiving of the data is managed by the U.S. Geological Survey. Goddard and Ball Aerospace each built one of the instruments, and the spacecraft was built by Northrop Grumman.
The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Landsat satellites have been consistently gathering data about our planet since 1972. They continue to improve and expand this unparalleled record of Earth’s changing landscapes for the benefit of all.
Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA): Lead Producer/Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET): Technical Support/Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA): Editor/Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA): Narrator/Kate Ramsayer: Writer/Jeffrey Masek (NASA/GSFC): Scientist/Music Marble Place by Matias Suescun [SACEM], published by KTSA Publishing [SACEM], available from Universal Production Music
ICESat-2 (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite 2), part of NASA’s Earth Observing System, is a satellite mission for measuring ice sheet elevation and sea ice thickness, as well as land topography, vegetation characteristics, and clouds. ICESat-2, a follow-on to the ICESat mission, was launched on 15 September 2018 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, into a near-circular, near-polar orbit with an altitude of approximately 496 km (308 mi). It was designed to operate for three years and carry enough propellant for seven years. The satellite orbits Earth at a speed of 6.9 kilometers per second (4.3 mi/s).
The ICESat-2 mission is designed to provide elevation data needed to determine ice sheet mass balance as well as vegetation canopy information. It will provide topography measurements of cities, lakes and reservoirs, oceans and land surfaces around the globe, in addition to the polar-specific coverage. ICESat-2 also has the ability to detect seafloor topography up to 100 feet (30m) below the surface in clear watered coastal areas. Because the great changes of polar ice cover in global warming are not quantified, one of the main purposes of ICESat-2 is measuring the changing of the elevation of ice sheets by its laser system and lidar to quantify the influence of melting ice sheet in sea-level raising. Additionally, the high accuracy of multiple pulses allows collecting measurement of the heights of sea ice to analyze its change rate during the time.
The ICESat-2 spacecraft was built and tested by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems in Gilbert, Arizona, while the on board instrument, ATLAS, was built and managed by Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The ATLAS instrument was designed and built by the center, and the bus was built by and integrated with the instrument by Orbital Sciences (later Orbital ATK). Orbital ATK, which was a global leader in aerospace and defense technologies, was acquired by the Northrop Grumman Corporation on June 6, 2018. The satellite was launched on a Delta II rocket provided by United Launch Alliance. This was the last launch of the Delta II rocket.
Video credit: Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio/Kel Elkins (USRA): Lead Visualizer/Ryan Fitzgibbons (USRA): Lead Producer/Alek A. Petty (University of Maryland): Scientist/Thomas A. Neumann Ph.D. (NASA/GSFC): Scientist/Nathan T. Kurtz (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
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