NASA PREFIRE mission launches to study Earth’s polar regions

ON WESH.COM. MEANTIME, THE FIRST STARLINER FLIGHT WITH ASTRONAUTS WILL NOT BE LAUNCHING THIS WEEKEND, AND WE NOW KNOW OFFICIALS WILL TRY AGAIN JUNE 1ST, WESH 2’S SCOTT HEIDLER HAS BEEN TRACKING EVERYTHING RELATED TO THAT TEST MISSION AND ITS NUMEROUS DELAYS FOR WEEKS NOW. TEAMS HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THIS ISSUE FOR DAYS, BUT AT THIS STAGE THEY DON’T KNOW HOW SERIOUS IT IS. THE FOCUS A SMALL HELIUM LEAK IN ONE OF THE 28 THRUSTER JETS ON THE BOEING STARLINER CRAFT THAT ALLOW IT TO BE MANEUVERED AND STEERED. I THINK THEY’RE TAKING MORE TIME. UH, TO GET COMFORTABLE WITH THIS LEAK TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS CAUSING IT, TO GET CONFIDENCE THAT IT WON’T BECOME MORE SIGNIFICANT AND WON’T WORSEN IN FLIGHT. HERE THEY COME. OUR CFT CREW TAKING THEIR FIRST STEPS OUTSIDE FOR THEIR HISTORIC FLIGHT TEST TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION. THE NASA TEST ASTRONAUTS BUTCH WILMORE AND SUNNY WILLIAMS WERE STRAPPED IN AND READY TO GO EARLIER IN THE MONTH, BUT A SCRUB WAS CALLED JUST TWO HOURS BEFORE LAUNCH. YEAH, ROGER. UH, SO THE ENGINEERING TEAM HAS EVALUATED, UM, THE VEHICLE IS NOT, UH, IN A CONFIGURATION WHERE WE CAN PROCEED WITH FLIGHT TODAY. IT WAS A VALVE ISSUE ON THE ATLAS FIVE ROCKET. STARLINER’S RIDE UP TO LOW EARTH ORBIT. AND THEN THE HELIUM LEAK WAS DETECTED. IT’S A DANGEROUS MISSION. AS IT IS, HUMANS FLYING ON A NEW SPACECRAFT FOR THE FIRST TIME. AND NASA’S COMMERCIAL CREW PROGRAM STARLINER WAS TO BE ALTERNATING TRIPS UP TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION WITH SPACEX’S CREW DRAGON AND LIFTOFF OF NASA CREW EIGHT. IT’S BEEN FARE AND CREW UP TO THE ISS FOR FOUR YEARS. IT WOULD SURPRISE ME IF BOEING, YOU KNOW, PULLED THE PLUG AND SAID, WE’RE DONE WITH STARLINER. WE’RE GOING TO YOU KNOW, JUST EAT, EAT THE MONEY THAT WE’VE LOST AND MOVE ON. UH, BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE A REALLY AN EVEN, YOU KNOW, A PR DISASTER FOR BOEING. I THINK ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE, THE SLIDING LAUNCH SCHEDULES ALSO HAVE IMPLICATIONS WITH THE BUSY INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION. AS CHANGES DOWN HERE ALSO HAVE TO WORK INTO THE SCHEDULE UP THERE ON THE SPACE COAST. SCOTT HEIDLER WESH TWO NEWS. STAY WITH WESH TWO FOR ALL OF YOUR SPACE INDUSTRY COVERAGE. FROM HISTORIC LAUNCHES TO EFFORTS TO PUT MAN BACK ON THE MOON, WE’LL BRING YOU THE VERY

NASA has launched the first of two research satellites to measure how much heat is lost to space from the Arctic and Antarctica.Related video above: NASA announces new launch date of Starliner's first crewed mission following 'indefinite' delayThe shoebox-size satellite lifted off Saturday at 7:42 p.m. local time (3:42 a.m. ET) aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Rocket Lab’s launch complex in Mahia, New Zealand. The climate science mission, known as Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment, or PREFIRE, aims to improve scientists’ understanding of how water vapor, clouds and other elements of Earth’s atmosphere trap heat and keep it from radiating into space.The data gathered will inform climate models and hopefully lead to better predictions of how the climate crisis will affect sea levels, weather, snow and ice cover, NASA said.Earth absorbs a lot of energy from the sun in the tropics regions. Weather and ocean currents move that heat energy toward the poles, where the heat radiates upward into space. Much of that heat is in far-infrared wavelengths and has never been systematically measured before, NASA added.PREFIRE is composed of two CubeSats fitted with specialized miniature heat sensors. The launch date for the second satellite will be announced shortly after the launch of the first satellite, NASA said.Once they’re both launched, the two satellites will be in asynchronous near-polar orbits — passing over a specific spot at different times, looking at the same area within hours of each other.Doing so should allow the satellites to collect data about phenomena that take place on a short time scale and require frequent measurements — such as how the amount of cloud cover affects the temperature on Earth beneath it.

NASA has launched the first of two research satellites to measure how much heat is lost to space from the Arctic and Antarctica.

Related video above: NASA announces new launch date of Starliner's first crewed mission following 'indefinite' delay

The shoebox-size satellite lifted off Saturday at 7:42 p.m. local time (3:42 a.m. ET) aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Rocket Lab’s launch complex in Mahia, New Zealand.

The climate science mission, known as Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment, or PREFIRE, aims to improve scientists’ understanding of how water vapor, clouds and other elements of Earth’s atmosphere trap heat and keep it from radiating into space.

The data gathered will inform climate models and hopefully lead to better predictions of how the climate crisis will affect sea levels, weather, snow and ice cover, NASA said.

Earth absorbs a lot of energy from the sun in the tropics regions. Weather and ocean currents move that heat energy toward the poles, where the heat radiates upward into space. Much of that heat is in far-infrared wavelengths and has never been systematically measured before, NASA added.

PREFIRE is composed of two CubeSats fitted with specialized miniature heat sensors. The launch date for the second satellite will be announced shortly after the launch of the first satellite, NASA said.

Once they’re both launched, the two satellites will be in asynchronous near-polar orbits — passing over a specific spot at different times, looking at the same area within hours of each other.

Doing so should allow the satellites to collect data about phenomena that take place on a short time scale and require frequent measurements — such as how the amount of cloud cover affects the temperature on Earth beneath it.

NASA PREFIRE mission launches to study Earth’s polar regions

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