29 May 2023

Data from the mission will improve our understanding of how the Arctic and Antarctic help to regulate Earth’s climate.

NASA and Rocket Lab are targeting Saturday, June 1, to launch the second CubeSat for the agency’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission. The launch window opens at 3 p.m. NZST, (11 p.m. EDT, Friday, May 31).

The first satellite successfully launched on 7:41 p.m. NZST May 25 (3:41 a.m. EDT) on an Electron rocket, called “Ready, Aim, PREFIRE,” from Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand. Rocket Lab is now processing the second Electron rocket, called “PREFIRE and Ice,” for launch also from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.

These small PREFIRE satellites will fill a gap in our understanding of how much of Earth’s heat is lost to space from the polar regions. The mission will enable researchers to systematically study the planet’s heat emissions in the far-infrared — with 10 times finer wavelength resolution than any previous sensor — and provide clues about sea ice loss, icesheet melting, and a warming Arctic.

NASA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison jointly developed the PREFIRE mission. The agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, located in Southern California, manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and provided the spectrometers. Blue Canyon Technologies built the CubeSats, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison will process the collected data.

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The first of two CubeSats for the PREFIRE mission sits on a launch pad in Māhia, New Zealand, shortly before launching on May 25, 2024 at 7:41 p.m. NZST (3:41 a.m. EDT).