The PREFIRE mission aims to reduce that uncertainty.
A division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and provided the spectrometers.
Blue Canyon Technologies built the CubeSats, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison will process and analyze the data the instruments collect.
NASA’s Launch Services Program selected Rocket Lab to launch both spacecraft as part of the agency’s Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract.
CubeSats like PREFIRE serve as an ideal platform for technical and architecture innovation, contributing to NASA’s science research and technology development.
Inconsistencies in how various climate models represent clouds can mean the difference between predicting 5 or 10 degrees Fahrenheit (3 or 6 degrees Celsius) of warming. The PREFIRE mission aims to reduce that uncertainty.
The thermal infrared spectrometer on each spacecraft will make crucial measurements of wavelengths of light in the far-infrared range. The instruments will be able to detect clouds largely invisible to other types of optical instruments. And PREFIRE’s instruments will be sensitive enough to detect the approximate size of particles to distinguish between liquid droplets and ice particles.
“PREFIRE will give us a new set of eyes on clouds,” said Brian Kahn, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a member of the PREFIRE science team. “We’re not quite sure what we’re going to see, and that’s really exciting.”
More About the Mission
PREFIRE was jointly developed by NASA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and provided the spectrometers. Blue Canyon Technologies built the CubeSats, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison will process and analyze the data the instruments collect.
NASA’s Launch Services Program selected Rocket Lab to launch both spacecraft as part of the agency’s Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract. CubeSats like PREFIRE serve as an ideal platform for technical and architecture innovation, contributing to NASA’s science research and technology development.
To learn more about PREFIRE, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/prefire/
