WASHINGTON D.C. — NASA says it plans to launch an advanced laser instrument which would be used to monitor our planet's melting polar ice.<br /><br />NASA's new laser — Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) — would have the ability to collect more than 250 times the height measurements of polar ice compared to its predecessor.<br /><br />The laser also uses a new system called Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS), which would enable it send six beams of green light to the ground and to fire 10,000 times each second.<br /><br />The laser would also have the ability to measure ice on Greenland and Antarctica "within the width of a pencil," by capturing 60,000 measurements each second.<br /><br />It would also be able to time how long it takes for light photons in the green light to travel to and from Earth.<br /><br />NASA says ICESat-2 will get a more detailed view of the ice surface as it circles the Earth from pole to pole, measuring ice heights along the way four times a year.<br /><br />NASA says the mission is scheduled to last for three years and hopes this new technology will bring about new data about our planet's melting ice and how its changing.
