PREFIRE takes flight!

Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket called “PREFIRE and Ice,” lifts off from Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand at 3:15 p.m. NZST Wednesday, June 5, 2024 (11:15 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, June 4), on the second of two launches for NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment). 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.

NASA’s Launch Services Program, based out of @NASAKennedy, in partnership with @NASAEarth System Science Pathfinder Program, is providing the launch service as part of the agency’s Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract.

Image description: A landscape image shows a Rocket Lab Electron rocket taking off. The black and white rocket is in the middle of the image, with flames shooting from the bottom. To the right of the image is the white Rocket Lab atom logo on a black building.

Photo credit: Rocket Lab

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