PREFIRE

Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment

active Mission

A mission designed for a pair of tiny satellites to measure a little-studied portion of the radiant energy emitted by Earth, for clues about sea ice loss, ice-sheet melting, and a warming Arctic – the region that behaves like our planet’s thermostat, as it regulates the climate by venting excess energy received in the tropics.

Type

CubeSat

Launch

May 2024

Target

Earth

Objective

Study Arctic Heat Emissions

PREFIRE Stories

NASA Mission Gets Its First Snapshot of Polar Heat Emissions

NASA Launches Second Small Climate Satellite to Study Earth’s Poles

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The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The smallest of these are small, distant, and faint points of light. The largest of these appear larger, closer, brighter, and more fully resolved with 8-point diffraction spikes. The upper portion of the image is blueish, and has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orangish cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The stars vary in color, the majority of which have a blue or orange hue. The cloud-like structure of the nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys – an appearance very similar to a mountain range. Three long diffraction spikes from the top right edge of the image suggest the presence of a large star just out of view.

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