Post by ray on May 5, 2020 23:33:38 GMT
Nasa's ICESat-2 satteliete's mission: To measure how the frozen regions of our planet are affected by global warming.
Once in orbit around Earth, the laser will fire 10,000 shots of light per second! It's a technique called photon counting. A 'photon' is a particle of light.
Each shot fired by the laser hits Earth's surface and bounces back. The time it takes for the light to bounce back to the satellite helps scientists work out distance and height of the reflecting surface.
Cathy Richardson, who has helped develop the instrument explains: "We fire about a trillion photons in every shot. We get about one back... We can time that one photon when it comes back just as accurately as when it left the instrument. And from that, we can calculate a distance to about half a centimetre on Earth."
Once in orbit around Earth, the laser will fire 10,000 shots of light per second! It's a technique called photon counting. A 'photon' is a particle of light.
Each shot fired by the laser hits Earth's surface and bounces back. The time it takes for the light to bounce back to the satellite helps scientists work out distance and height of the reflecting surface.
Cathy Richardson, who has helped develop the instrument explains: "We fire about a trillion photons in every shot. We get about one back... We can time that one photon when it comes back just as accurately as when it left the instrument. And from that, we can calculate a distance to about half a centimetre on Earth."
