By C. Perera, JadeTimes News
The second of NASA’s PREFIRE satellites has successfully established communication with ground controllers following its launch at 3.15 p.m on started June 4. These CubeSats, each the size of a shoebox, aim to enhance predictions of changes in Earth’s ice, seas, and weather patterns due to global warming, providing critical information for humanity’s adaptation to a changing planet.
The CubeSat was launched aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand. This follows the launch of the first PREFIRE CubeSat on May 25. After a 30 day checkout period to confirm both CubeSats' operational status, the mission will proceed for an expected duration of 10 months.
A video overview of the PREFIRE mission highlights its goal of improving climate change predictions by enhancing our understanding of heat radiation from Earth’s polar regions. Amanda Whitehurst, PREFIRE program executive at NASA Headquarters, emphasized that the mission will improve climate and ice models by clarifying the role of polar regions in regulating the planet’s energy budget.
Utilizing NASA’s vantage point in space, PREFIRE will study the balance between incoming solar heat and outgoing heat from Earth’s poles. The polar regions, akin to a car radiator, emit much of the heat absorbed at the tropics into space as far infrared radiation. This process is influenced by atmospheric water vapor and the presence and composition of clouds.
The mission will gather data on where and when far infrared energy radiates from the Arctic and Antarctic into space. By employing two CubeSats in asynchronous, near polar orbits, researchers will study the impact of transient phenomena like cloud formation, moisture changes, and ice melt on far-infrared emissions. The satellites’ different orbital timings will provide insights into changing conditions over the same Earth regions.
Brian Drouin, PREFIRE’s deputy principal investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, noted that the mission will offer new measurements of far infrared wavelengths from Earth’s poles, improving climate and weather models to help address climate change.
Each CubeSat is equipped with a thermal infrared spectrometer, featuring advanced mirrors and sensors to measure infrared wavelengths. The miniaturization of these instruments required innovative adjustments to fit on the CubeSats.
Laurie Leshin, director at NASA JPL, highlighted that the PREFIRE CubeSats, equipped with highly sensitive infrared sensors, will enhance our understanding of the polar regions, leading to more accurate predictions of sea level rise, weather patterns, and changes in snow and ice cover.
The launch was facilitated by NASA’s Launch Services Program in partnership with NASA’s Earth System Science Pathfinder Program, under the agency’s VADR launch services contract. PREFIRE was developed jointly by NASA and the University of Wisconsin Madison, with NASA JPL managing the mission and providing the spectrometers. Blue Canyon Technologies built the CubeSats, and the University of Wisconsin Madison will process the collected data. Rocket Lab USA Inc. served as the launch provider.