Liftoff for PREFIRE and Ice! Rocket Lab Launches Second Polar Heat CubeSat

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket launched from New Zealand, carrying the second NASA PREFIRE satellite. This mission is aimed at understanding Earth’s heat loss to space from polar regions. Each of the CubeSats is equipped with thermal infrared spectrometers to analyze light, which will aid climate and ice models.

Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 1 at Māhia, New Zealand at 3:15 p.m. NZST on Wednesday, June 5 (11:15 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, June 4), on the second of two launches of NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission. The first PREFIRE CubeSat launched on May 25.