NASA的PREFIRE任务研究极地能量损失的发射日期确定

NASA and Rocket Lab have set a launch date of May 22, 2024 for the PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission. This mission aims to study heat loss to space in Earth's polar regions. The mission will consist of two CubeSats launched on separate flights aboard Electron rockets from New Zealand. PREFIRE will provide measurements over the poles that can only be gathered from space, enabling researchers to systematically study the planet's heat emissions in the far-infrared with 10 times finer wavelength resolution than any previous sensor.

The mission is expected to fill a gap in understanding how much of Earth's heat is lost to space from the polar regions, particularly in the Arctic where 60% of the energy escaping to space hasn't been systematically measured. This is important for understanding the mechanisms of polar ice loss, sea level rise, and sea ice loss. The instruments will fly on two identical CubeSats in asynchronous, near-polar orbits.

The PREFIRE mission was jointly developed by NASA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory managing the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Blue Canyon Technologies built the CubeSats, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison will process the collected data.

The launch will be followed by a second CubeSat mission launch several weeks later, also from New Zealand on an Electron rocket. Rocket Lab was selected to launch both spacecraft as part of NASA's VADR contract.