NASA
NASA | Laser Focus
ICESat-2's instrument, ATLAS, is designed to measure heights on Earth. ATLAS has three main tasks: transmitting a pattern of six laser beams, collecting the laser photons that return to the satellite after reflecting off Earth, and...
NASA
NASA | Return with LRO
The Deputy Project Manager for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) program, Cathy Peddie, expresses her personal and professional thoughts on the upcoming LRO mission. From following in the footsteps of her childhood heroes,to...
NASA
NASA | LCRD: From Vision to Reality
Since its inception in 1958, NASA has relied exclusively on radio frequency (RF)-based communications as the only viable medium for exchanging data between a mission and a spacecraft. Today, with missions demanding communication with...
NASA
NASA | Laser Focus: The Receiver
To see how the Transmitter works, go here Opto-Mechanical Engineer Tyler Evans explains how the photons that bounce back from Earth are received and filtered by the ATLAS telescope. ATLAS is the primary instrument on board the ICESat-2...
NASA
ATom Mission interview clips — Róisín Commane
To measure the background atmosphere you need a sensitive instrument. Róisín Commane of Harvard University with the #EarthExpedition ATom mission explains how her instrument uses lasers to detect greenhouse gases. The ATom mission aboard...
Physics Girl
How to control light with water
How fast is the internet? How fast can we send data? This easy DIY experiment allows you to control light with water! Drill a hole in the bottom of a 2 liter bottle, fill the bottle with water allowing the water to stream out the hole,...
NASA
NASA Views Laser Landscapes of Helheim Glacier
What if you could measure a glacier in such detail that you could visualize its surface in 3D? And what if you could compare that view with data from one, two, even 20 years ago? NASA airborne campaigns like Operation IceBridge have been...
NASA
NASA | Mona Lisa on the Moon
As part of the first demonstration of laser communication with a satellite at the moon, scientists with NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) beamed an image of the Mona Lisa to the spacecraft from Earth. The iconic image traveled...
NASA
Timing Is Everything
Deputy Systems Engineer Phil Luers explains how ICESat-2’s ATLAS instrument transmitter and receiver subsystems come together to calculate the timing of photons, which, in turn, measure the elevation of ice. Credits: Ryan Fitzgibbons;...
NASA
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...
NASA
NASA | Laser Comm: That's a Bright Idea
Laser light made records obsolete. NASA is on the verge of doing the same thing with space based communications. Before the end of the decade, the Laser Communication Relay Demonstration (LCRD) mission will revolutionize the way we move...
NASA
Photon Phriday: One Phull Orbit
Follow an entire orbit of the ICESat-2 mission as it measures the elevation of oceans, sea ice, mountains, and islands around the Earth. This video shows the same orbit (ground reference track 1352) on two different dates (Dec. 26, 2018,...
NASA
NASA's Laser Mission to Measure Trees
The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) is a lidar instrument that sends laser pulses down to Earth, where they penetrate the globe's temperate and tropical forests. The laser beams ricochet off the first thing they hit, which...
NASA
NASA Celebrates Earth Day and the Amazing Tech that Makes Earth Exploration Possible
NASA pioneers and supports an amazing range of advanced technologies and tools to help scientists and environmental specialists better understand and protect our home planet - from space lasers to virtual reality, small satellites and...
NASA
NASA | Space Geodesy Profiles: Jan McGarry
Mathematician Jan McGarry discusses the science and history of Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), her role in developing the Next Generation Satellite Laser Ranging system, and her career at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
NASA
NASA | Laser Comm: The Next Generation of Space Communications
NASA is looking for the next generation of space communications technology and Laser Comm may be the answer. Optical communications provide higher bandwidth, which allows for faster data flow and even opens the door to streaming high-def...
Curated Video
CompTIA A+ Certification 220-1001: The Total Course - Laser Printers
Laser printers provide excellent print output on paper in both black and white and full color. Laser printers use a fairly complicated printing process that techs should understand. This episode details the processes and components for...
NASA
Amazon Canopy Comes to Life through Laser Data
Flying over the Brazilian Amazon with an instrument firing 300,000 laser pulses per second, NASA scientists have made the first 3D measurements of forest canopies in the region. With this research they hope to shed light on the effects...
NASA
NASA | A Laser Scientist Answers 5 Questions About LVIS
With winter closing in, a new NASA airborne campaign launched October 31, 2013 in Greenland. For the first time, the Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor, or LVIS, is flying about NASA's new C-130 aircraft to measure the island's ice...
NASA
NASA | LLCD: Proving Laser Communication Possible
On October 18th, 2013 the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) made history, transmitting data from lunar orbit to Earth at a rate of 622 Mbps. LLCD, flying aboard NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE),...
NASA
Lasers Fired At NASA's Parker Solar Probe
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is in the midst of intense environmental testing at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in preparation for its journey to the Sun. These tests simulate the noise and shaking the spacecraft...
NASA
ICESat-2 By the Numbers: 300 Trillion
ICESat-2 is an incredibly precise space laser that features the latest in NASA technology To measure ice heights, engineers have to take ICESat-2's instrument ATLAS to the extreme - sometimes going big, sometimes going small, but always...
NASA
ICESat-2 By the Numbers: 0.2
ICESat-2 is an incredibly precise space laser that features the latest in NASA technology To measure ice heights, engineers have to take ICESat-2's instrument ATLAS to the extreme - sometimes going big, sometimes going small, but always...
NASA
NASA | Space Geodesy Profiles: Stephen Merkowitz
Project manager Stephen Merkowitz talks about his work with NASA's Space Geodesy Project, including a brief overview of the four fundamental techniques of space geodesy: GPS, VLBI, SLR, and DORIS.