![\"Rocket](\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/pre_C_638500627686279228.jpg\")
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<\/strong>Rocket Lab USA<\/strong>, a global company in launch services and space systems, announced it is preparing two back-to-back Electron launches to deploy NASA\u2019s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment)<\/strong> mission. The two dedicated missions will each deploy one satellite to a 525km circular orbit from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. <\/p>\n The first mission \u2013 named \u2018Ready, Aim, PREFIRE<\/strong>\u2019 \u2013 is scheduled to launch no earlier than May 22, 2024. The launch date of the second mission \u2013 named \u2018PREFIRE And Ice\u2019 \u2013 will be scheduled to take place within three weeks of the successful deployment of the first PREFIRE mission. The missions will be Rocket Lab\u2019s 48th and 49th Electron launches overall and its sixth and seventh launches of 2024.<\/p>\n NASA\u2019s PREFIRE mission is a climate change-focused mission that that will systematically measure the heat, in the form of infrared and far-infrared wavelengths, lost from Earth\u2019s polar regions for the first time. Extreme storms, flooding, and coastal erosion are examples of weather outcomes that are influenced by climate conditions in the Arctic and Antarctica. Once deployed to their separate orbits, the two PREFIRE satellites will criss-cross over the Arctic and Antarctica measuring thermal infrared radiation \u2013 the same type of energy emitted from a heat lamp \u2013 that will make climate models more accurate and help predict changes caused by global warming. PREFIRE consists of two 6U CubeSats with a baseline mission length of 10 months.<\/p>\n \u201cHelping climate scientists better understand climate change means they need precisely located measurements of Earth\u2019s polar heat loss, which NASA\u2019s PREFIRE mission is setting out to achieve, and helping the PREFIRE mission achieve its science objectives means its satellites need precise and accurate deployments to their locations in space,\u201d says <\/strong>Rocket Lab <\/strong>Founder and CEO, Peter Beck<\/strong><\/strong>. \u201cIt\u2019s these types of missions where Electron really thrives as the leading launch provider for dedicated small satellite missions. We have an excellent track record of delivering NASA\u2019s payloads to exactly where they need to go and when they need to, and we\u2019re looking forward to adding to that tally further with these next back-to-back launches.\u201d<\/p>\n PREFIRE is the latest to join Rocket Lab\u2019s list of NASA science and technology missions launched on Electron in recent years. These include the CAPSTONE mission to the Moon launched by Electron and deployed by a Rocket Lab Explorer spacecraft bus; two back-to-back Electron launches for the TROPICS mission in May 2023; the recent NASA Starling mission launched on Electron; and NASA\u2019s ACS3 mission launched last month on a rideshare mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rocket Lab USA, a global company in launch services and space systems, announced it is preparing two back-to-back Electron launches to deploy NASA\u2019s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission. The two dedicated missions will each deploy one satellite to a 525km circular orbit from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[26,25,20],"class_list":["post-6973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-ground","tag-launch","tag-satellite"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6973"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6973\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}