NASA’s PREFIRE Mission: A New Era in Climate Science
NASA is set to embark on a groundbreaking endeavor with its latest climate science mission, the Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-Infrared Experiment (PREFIRE). This mission aims to revolutionize our understanding of how heat is lost to space from Earth’s polar regions through cutting-edge technology and innovative scientific research.
Launch Details
The PREFIRE mission consists of a pair of cubesats that will be launched separately into near-polar orbits. The first cubesat, named “Ready, Aim, PREFIRE,” is scheduled to launch no earlier than May 22, on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Pad B at the company’s Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand. Following closely, the second cubesat, “PREFIRE and ICE,” will be launched a few days later.
Scientific Objectives
The primary objective of PREFIRE is to measure far-infrared radiation, specifically wavelengths longer than 15 microns, which account for approximately 60 percent of the total heat lost at the poles. This mission will provide unprecedented data on various properties at the poles, including clouds, humidity, and surface fluctuations between frozen and liquid states, all of which contribute to the dissipation of heat lost to space.
Tristan L’Ecuyer, the Principle Investigator at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for PREFIRE, emphasized the significance of this mission during a recent briefing with reporters. He highlighted the potential impact of PREFIRE data on enhancing climate models, improving predictions of sea-level rise, and understanding how polar climate changes may influence global weather patterns.
Scientific Instrumentation
The PREFIRE cubesats are compact in size, each approximately the size of a loaf of bread, and house identical thermal infrared spectrometers. These cubesats, while small in stature, are cost-effective and specifically designed to fulfill NASA’s expanding portfolio of climate research missions. The innovative design of these cubesats aligns with NASA’s broader strategy of combining large-scale and small-scale missions to comprehensively study Earth’s climate system.
Mary White, the PREFIRE Project Manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, likened the cubesats’ infrared spectrometers to a “scaled-down” version of NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) optical system. The success of similar technology on missions such as the Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) and the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment underscores the robustness and reliability of the PREFIRE instrumentation.
Implications and Accessibility
The PREFIRE mission’s dual-satellite approach offers a unique vantage point for observing changes at Earth’s polar regions. By leveraging data from both cubesats, researchers can glean valuable insights into the complex processes influencing heat emission in the Arctic.
As with all of NASA’s climate research initiatives, the data collected during the PREFIRE mission will be made openly accessible to the scientific community and the public. This commitment to open science data reflects NASA’s dedication to fostering collaboration, innovation, and knowledge sharing in advancing our understanding of Earth’s climate system.
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