Category: International Space Station

NASA’s PREFIRE Mission: Launch Coverage Underway

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket is erect on the launch pad.
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket named “Ready, Aim, PREFIRE” is on the launch pad in Mahia, New Zealand ahead of launching the first PREFIRE CubeSat on May 25, 2024. Photo Credit: Rocket Lab

Launch day is here for the first of two launches of NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission. Rocket Lab of Long Beach, California, is providing the launch service.

A small satellite – a CubeSat, about the size of a shoebox – waits on Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket for liftoff from Launch Complex-1 in Māhia, New Zealand. Launch is targeted for 7:28 p.m. NZST Saturday, May 25 (3:28 a.m. EDT). Back-up opportunities are available throughout May and into June should the launch date need to be updated for any reason.

The mission will send two CubeSats to asynchronous, near-polar orbits, and help to close a gap in our understanding of how much of Earth’s heat is lost to space from the Arctic and Antarctica. Analysis of PREFIRE measurements will inform climate and ice models, providing better projections of how a warming world will affect sea ice loss, ice sheet melt, and sea level rise.

The first CubeSat launch, which Rocket Lab named “Ready, Aim, PREFIRE,” will be followed by the second CubeSat launch, named “PREFIRE and Ice,” scheduled to lift off in the coming weeks from New Zealand on an Electron rocket.

NASA’s Launch Services Program selected Rocket Lab to launch the mission as part of the agency’s VADR (Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare) contract. Missions launched through VADR help foster growth in the commercial launch market while lowering the cost of access to space for science and technology research.

Follow launch updates on NASA’s small satellite missions blog and stay connected with the mission on social media.

X: @NASA_LSP, @NASAEarth, @NASAKennedy, @NASA, @RocketLab, @NASAJPL
Facebook: NASA, NASA LSP, @NASAJPL, RocketLabUSA
Instagram: @NASA, @NASAEarth, @NASAJPL, @RocketLabUSA

NASA to Launch Small Satellites on Next SpaceX Cargo Mission

Middle schoolers are sending their science fair project to space, one of five CubeSats on a ride-share on a Commercial Resupply Services, CRS-25. The CapSat-1 team are three 7th-grade students from the Weiss School in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Middle schoolers are sending their science fair project to space, one of five CubeSats on a ride-share on the 25th Commercial Resupply Services, CRS-25. The CapSat-1 team are three 7th-grade students from the Weiss School in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Photo credit: Weiss School

NASA’s Launch Services Program is preparing to send five CubeSats to the International Space Station as part of the ELaNa 45 (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites) mission aboard SpaceX’s 25th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-25) mission for NASA. Liftoff is scheduled for June 7 from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The small satellites were selected through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative, which provides low-cost access to space for U.S. educational institutions, NASA centers, and others to develop and demonstrate novel technologies in space and to inspire and grow the next generation of scientists, engineers, and technologists.

The CubeSats were developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; The Weiss School in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida; NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California; Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida; and the University of South Alabama in Mobile. The CubeSats will be deployed from the space station.

NASA has selected over 200 CubeSat missions from more than 100 unique organizations representing 42 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico through the CubeSat Launch Initiative since 2010. To date, 134 CubeSat missions have launched into space through ELaNa rideshare opportunities.