NASA launches new satellite for climate research

A NASA launched the first of two satellites climate research from a base in New Zealand this Saturday (25), with the aim of measuring how much heat is lost to space in the Arctic and Antarctica.

The shoebox-sized satellite took off at 4:42 am (Brasília time), aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket, from Rocket Lab’s ocean launch complex in Mahia.

The company confirmed the successful launch of the satellite at 5:35 am.

The climate science mission, known as Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed (Prefire) experiment, aims to improve scientists’ understanding of how water vapor, clouds and other elements in Earth’s atmosphere trap heat and prevent it from it radiates into space.

The data collected will inform climate models and, it is hoped, lead to better predictions about how the climate crisis will affect sea levels, temperatures, snow and ice cover, NASA said.

The Earth absorbs a lot of energy from the sun in tropical regions. Climate and ocean currents move this thermal energy toward the poles, where the heat radiates upward into space.

Much of this heat is in infrared wavelengths and has never been measured systematically, NASA added.

To carry out this measurement, the Prefire mission was designed with two satellites equipped with miniature heat sensors. The launch date for the second satellite will be announced soon, the American agency reported.

This should allow satellites to collect data on phenomena that occur on a short time scale, requiring frequent measurements – such as how the amount of cloud cover affects the temperature on the Earth below it.