Earth  ID: 12525

Photon Jump

Pho, a plucky bright green photon of light, must travel from a NASA spacecraft down to Earth and back again to help complete a crucial science mission in this educational short film. The animation was created and produced by media art students from the Savannah College of Art in Design (SCAD) in Georgia, in collaboration with NASA’s Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) mission. Their goal was to communicate the science and engineering of the mission, slated for launch in 2018.

ICESat-2, managed by NASA Goddard in Greenbelt, Maryland, will measure the height of a changing Earth, one laser pulse at a time, 10,000 laser pulses a second. ICESat-2 will carry a photon-counting laser altimeter that will allow scientists to measure the elevation of ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice and more - all in unprecedented detail. The workings of this laser helped inspire students to create the character of Pho and plot his adventure.

Our planet's frozen and icy areas, called the cryosphere, are a key focus of NASA's Earth science research. ICESat-2 will help scientists investigate why, and how much, our cryosphere is changing in a warming climate. The satellite will also measure heights across Earth's temperate and tropical regions, and take stock of the vegetation in forests worldwide. For more about the mission, visit https://icesat-2.gsfc.nasa.gov.
 

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For More Information

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/a-photon-debut-student-short-film-for-icesat2


Credits

Ryan Fitzgibbons (USRA): Project Support
Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (USRA): Lead Animator
Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (USRA): Lead Producer
Helen-Nicole Kostis (USRA): Lead Producer
Valerie Casasanto (UMBC): Lead Project Support
Thorsten Markus (NASA/GSFC): Lead Scientist
Thomas A. Neumann Ph.D. (NASA/GSFC): Lead Scientist
Kate Ramsayer (Telophase): Lead Writer
Deborah Fowler Ph.D. (Savannah College of Art and Design): Project Support
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12525

Mission:
Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2)

This item is part of this series:
Narrated Movies

Keywords:
SVS >> Laser
SVS >> Laser Altimeter
SVS >> Hyperwall
SVS >> Atlas
NASA Science >> Earth
SVS >> ICESat-2
SVS >> Photon