Rocket Lab PREFIRE-1 Launch

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand at 7:41 p.m. NZST (3:41 a.m. EDT) Saturday, May 25, 2024, on the first of two launches which Rocket Lab named “Ready, Aim, PREFIRE,” for NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission. The PREFIRE mission, expected to last at least 10 months, consists of sending two CubeSats to synchronous, near-polar orbits, to help close a gap in our understanding of how much of Earth’s heat is lost to space from the Arctic and Antarctica.

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand at 7:41 p.m. NZST (3:41 a.m. EDT) Saturday, May 25, 2024, on the first of two launches which Rocket Lab named “Ready, Aim, PREFIRE,” for NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission. The PREFIRE mission, expected to last at least 10 months, consists of sending two CubeSats to asynchronous, near-polar orbits, to help close a gap in our understanding of how much of Earth’s heat is lost to space from the Arctic and Antarctica.

Photographer Rocket Lab
Album Rocket_Lab_PREFIRE
NASAPREFIREPolar Radiant Energy in the Far InfraRed ExperimentLSPLaunch Services ProgramJPLJet Propulsion LaboratoryEarthclimateCubeSatsmall satellitesea icemeltingglobal warmingarctictropicspolesRocket LabElectronNew ZealandReady Aim PREFIREPREFIRE and Ice