Rocket Lab USA, Inc. launched the first of two back-to-back launches for NASA?s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) climate change-focused mission. Rocket Lab?s ability to launch dedicated missions to precise orbits on demand is critical to the success of PREFIRE. The mission requires two separate satellites to follow similar trajectories but along different paths to overlap with each other every few hours near the Arctic and Antarctica and capture accurate heat loss measurements.

Both PREFIRE satellites are equipped with a device called a thermopile, similar to sensors found in household thermostats, to measure heat loss at far-infrared wavelengths which have never been systematically measured before. This data collected by the PREFIRE mission will help to improve climate and ice models and provide better predictions of how the planet?s sea level and weather are likely to change in the future.