NASA counts down to launch of laser study of ice sheets

NASA counted down Saturday to the launch of its $1 billion ICESat-2 mission, using advanced lasers to uncover the true depth of the melting of Earth's ice sheets. The mission will inform sea level rise forecasts and is "exceptionally important for science," according to Richard Slonaker, ICESat-2 program executive at NASA. The half-ton satellite should reveal unprecedented detail about the current thickness of ice at the vulnerable polar regions as the climate warms.

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