NASA’s PREFIRE mission, in collaboration with Rocket Lab, is now rescheduled for no earlier than May 25 due to adverse weather conditions at the launch site in Mahia, New Zealand. The mission’s objective is to deploy two CubeSats into near-polar orbits to investigate thermal energy loss from the Arctic and Antarctica, with a second launch planned following the first. Credit: NASA
NASA and Rocket Lab have postponed the launch of NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission to no earlier than Saturday, May 25, due to a severe weather system affecting Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. The team will stand by until the weather clears.
The mission aims to deploy two CubeSats into asynchronous, near-polar orbits to investigate the amount of Earth’s heat lost to space from the Arctic and Antarctica. Following the successful deployment of the first CubeSat, a second launch will be scheduled.
This artist’s concept depicts one of two PREFIRE CubeSats in orbit around Earth. The NASA mission will measure the amount of far-infrared radiation the planet’s polar regions shed to space – information that’s key to understanding Earth’s energy balance. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
PREFIRE, which stands for Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment, is a NASA mission designed to investigate Earth’s thermal energy dynamics, specifically focusing on how much heat is lost to space from the Arctic and Antarctica. The mission utilizes two CubeSats, small research satellites, which are deployed into asynchronous, near-polar orbits.
By measuring the far-infrared radiant energy emitted from these polar regions, PREFIRE aims to enhance our understanding of Earth’s energy balance and contribute valuable data to climate science, particularly in terms of understanding and predicting changes in polar ice and cloud dynamics. The data collected by PREFIRE will also help improve climate models, providing a more accurate prediction of future climate scenarios.
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