Home Page

Overview


Welcome to the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) Software Development Team (SDT) Ground Data System Home Page. The SDT supports the GLAS Science Team to develop the GLAS software to produce the Level 1 and Level 2 data products. The GLAS instrument is on the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat). The GLAS SDT is managed by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA.

Icesat launched on January 13, 2003 UTC

Icesat launched on January 13, 2003 UTC Icesat was launch successfully from Vandenberg Air Force Base on January 12,2003 16:45 PST. The launch vehicle was a Boeing Delta II. Separation of the ICESat spacecraft occurred 64 minutes after launch at 5:49 p.m. PST. Initial contact with ICESat was made 75 minutes after launch at 6 p.m. PST as the spacecraft passed over the Svalbard Ground Station in Norway.

ICESat is the latest in a series of Earth Observing System spacecraft, following the Terra satellite launched in December 1999, and the Aqua satellite launched earlier in May of this year. The primary role of ICESat is to quantify ice sheet growth or retreat and to thereby answer questions concerning many related aspects of the Earth climate system, including global climate change and changes in sea level.