NASA is preparing for a succession of launches of cubesats designed to capture crucial data to improve Earth’s climate models. The first of twin cubesats for NASA’s Polar Radiant Energy in Far Infrared Exploration (PREFIRE) mission is scheduled to launch as early as May 22 on an Electron rocket from the Rocket Laboratory’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. Another cubesat will be launched on another Electron in three weeks.

Each 6U cubesat contains a thermal infrared spectrometer, based on technology used on several other spacecraft, but repackaged to fit the size and mass limitations of the cubesat. The devices will collect information about radiation in the far infrared range at the Earth’s poles, with wavelengths greater than 15 microns.

The data will help scientists better understand how much heat the Earth is losing to space at the poles, which could be used to improve climate models, project and NASA officials said at a May 15 briefing.

“The Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth. This has huge potential consequences,” said PREFIRE principal investigator Tristan L’Equiere at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. These impacts are local and global; the latter includes sea level rise and larger weather systems.

He explained that PREFIRE will make the first detailed measurements of the radiant heat emitted at the poles. “This will allow us to understand for the first time what different processes, such as clouds in the polar regions, moisture in the atmosphere, and surface exchange (the transition from an ice surface to a liquid surface) do to modify this heat loss.”

These measurements can be made with a single cubesat, but having two satellites launched into different sun-synchronous orbital planes allows additional measurements. “A single CubeSat can determine how radiation appears in the polar regions,” L’Ecuyer said, “but with a second CubeSat flying in about six hours, we will be able to understand how changes such as melting of ice sheets, cloud formation, or increased moisture in the atmosphere affect emissions.” .

This leads to an unconventional approach to this mission, with individual cubesats being specially launched on an Electron rocket and placing them in specific desired orbits. NASA has selected Rocket Lab to launch the PREFIRE spacecraft in August 2023 with a Dedicated and Shared Drive (VADR) purchase order. NASA did not disclose the cost of the order.

Although Electron has significant excess power for each PREFIRE launch, Rocket Lab’s CEO Peter Beck said in a briefing that the company does not plan to carry any additional payload or hold any technology demonstrations on the two launches. “He was completely dedicated to this mission,” he said. “Only these spaceships are on board.”

NASA selected PREFIRE as part of the Earth Venture instrument and mission series in 2018 at a maximum cost of approximately $33 million. Karen St., director of NASA’s Earth Sciences Division. “The mission is a really great example of how we can focus our research efforts: how we can answer targeted research questions with more accessible options,” Germain said.

“Cube satellites like PREFIRE represent flexibility in our efforts to reach space,” he said. “A much smaller payload, with launch services provided by a commercial partner, and at a lower cost.”