NASA PREFIRE Mission Receives First Heat Emission Imagery | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-06.23.25

Airborne-NextGen-06.24.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.25.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-06.26.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.27.25

Thu, Sep 12, 2024

NASA PREFIRE Mission Receives First Heat Emission Imagery

Quest Will Help Develop Understanding of Global Climate Influences

NASA has received its first snapshot of far-infrared radiation emitted by Arctic and Antarctic environments in its latest climate mission. This aims to develop the agency’s understanding of how the regions affect heat emissions and global climate change.

The mission, titled Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-Infrared Experiment (PREFIRE), was jointly developed by NASA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It consists of two satellites, or CubeSats, about the size of a shoebox. The first was launched on May 25 and the second followed ten days later.

The first PREFIRE CubeSat started returning science data on July 1. The second CubeSat has been collecting data since July 25, but an issue with the GPS has prevented it from being transmitted.

“We are constantly looking for new ways to observe the planet and fill in critical gaps in our knowledge. With CubeSats like PREFIRE, we are doing both,” explained Karen St. Germain, Director of the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters. “The mission, part of our competitively-selected Earth Venture program, is a great example of the innovative science we can achieve through collaboration with university and industry partners.”

Heat energy emitted from warmer climates gets absorbed by Earth and is transported through currents to the Arctic and Antarctic. A good bit of this heat travels into the atmosphere in far-infrared radiation, or wavelengths greater than 15 micrometers. The PREFIRE mission works to precisely measure these emissions. NASA will receive detailed information on how water vapor and clouds affect the amount of heat that escapes Earth, which is critical to their understanding of climate change.

The initial visualization from the CubeSats displays brightness temperatures -- the intensity of radiation emitted from Earth. It shows mid-infrared emissions from early July, far-infrared emissions at different atmospheric levels, and the intersection of two passes over Greenland to show how the intensity changed between them.

“It’s so exciting to see the data coming in,” said Tristan L’Ecuyer, PREFIRE’s principal investigator. “With the addition of the far-infrared measurements from PREFIRE, we’re seeing for the first time the full energy spectrum that Earth radiates into space.”

FMI: www.nasa.gov

Advertisement

More News

NTSB Final Report: Rutan Long-EZ

He Attempted To Restart The Engine Three Times. On The Third Restart Attempt, He Noticed That Flames Were Coming Out From The Right Wing Near The Fuel Cap Analysis: The pilot repor>[...]

ANN FAQ: Turn On Post Notifications

Make Sure You NEVER Miss A New Story From Aero-News Network Do you ever feel like you never see posts from a certain person or page on Facebook or Instagram? Here’s how you c>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: ICAS Perspectives - Advice for New Air Show Performers

From 2009 (YouTube Edition): Leading Air Show Performers Give Their Best Advice for Newcomers On December 6th through December 9th, the Paris Las Vegas Hotel hosted over 1,500 air >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (06.28.25)

Aero Linx: NASA ASRS ASRS captures confidential reports, analyzes the resulting aviation safety data, and disseminates vital information to the aviation community. The ASRS is an i>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (06.28.25)

“For our inaugural Pylon Racing Seminar in Roswell, we were thrilled to certify 60 pilots across our six closed-course pylon race classes. Not only did this year’s PRS >[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC