NASA launches "Prefire" mission to research polar temperatures
Two small NASA climate satellites are to measure the energy balance at the poles - and thus enable better climate models.
Artistic representation of a Prefire satellite in space.
(Image: NASA)
The first of two climate satellites of the US space agency NASA's "Prefire" mission has been launched from New Zealand on board an Electron rocket. The satellite lifted off from the Mahia Peninsula spaceport on New Zealand's North Island at 9:41 a.m. German time on Saturday, according to NASA.
The second satellite is to follow in the coming days. The two devices of the Prefire mission (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) are each about the size of a shoe box and are to investigate how much heat the Earth's polar regions absorb and radiate during their ten-month mission from an altitude of around 525 kilometers.
The measurements in the infrared range are intended to complete our knowledge of the planet's energy budget. "This will improve predictions of sea ice loss, ice sheet melting and sea level rise and help us understand how the Earth system will change in the coming years," explained Karen St. Germain, head of NASA's Earth Science Division. With this knowledge, more reliable weather and climate forecasts can be made in the future.
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