Nasa'S Mission To Study Heat Emissions At Poles: Mission Prefire

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched one of the two climate satellites, which would study heat emissions at Earth’s poles, sitting atop Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from Mahia, New Zealand. The second satellite will be launched in the following days. THE PURPOSE: The two shoebox-sized cube satellites, or CubeSats, will measure how much heat the Arctic and Antarctica — two of the coldest regions on the Earth — radiate into space and how this influences the planet’s climate. The mission has been named PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-Infrared Experiment) and was jointly developed by NASA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (US). WHAT ARE CUBESATS? CubeSats are essentially miniature satellites whose basic design is a 10 cm x10 cm x 10 cm (which makes up for “one unit” or “1U”) cube — just a little bigger than a Rubik’s cube — and weight not more than 1.33 kg. Depending on the CubeSat’s mission, the number of units can be 1.5, 2, 3, 6, and 12U, according to NASA. WHEN WERE CUBESATS DEVELOPED? These satellites were first developed in 1999 by California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) and Stanford University as educational tools. However, owing to their low cost and less mass in comparison to traditional satellites, they began to be put in orbit for technology demonstrations, scientific research, and commercial purposes. WHY RESEARCHERS WANT TO STUDY HEAT EMISSIONS? It has to do with the Earth’s energy budget, which is the balance between the amount of heat incoming to Earth from the Sun and the amount of heat outgoing from Earth into space. The difference between the two determines the planet’s temperature and climate. A large amount of the heat radiated from the Arctic and Antarctica is emitted as far-infrared radiation — wavelengths of 3 mm to 1,000 mm within the infrared range of electromagnetic radiation. However, there is currently no way to measure this type of energy. As a result, there is a gap in knowledge about the planet’s energy budget.

ABOUT PREFIRE

Each of the PREFIRE satellites is a 6U CubeSat. They measure around 90 cm in height and nearly 120 cm in width when the solar panels, which will power the satellite, are deployed.
The two satellites will be placed in a near-polar orbit (a type of low Earth orbit) at an altitude of about 525 kilometres.
Its two CubeSats can study far-infrared radiation from the Earth’s pole and the data collected by them would help scientists better understand the energy budget of the planet.
Each of the PREFIRE CubeSat is equipped with a thermal infrared spectrometer — known as Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (TIRS) — to measure the amount of infrared and far-infrared radiation from the Arctic and Antarctica.
The CubeSats will also measure the amount of far-infrared radiation trapped by atmospheric water vapour and clouds at the poles and how this influences the greenhouse effect in the region.

Prelims: Key facts, institutions, locations and terminology in the article.
Mains: Connect the topic with Environment, Economy, Science & Technology.
Revision: Use the article headings to prepare concise notes and answer-writing points.

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Questions from this article

Prelims practice

With reference to NASA's Mission To Study Heat Emissions At Poles: Mission Prefire, consider the following statements:

Each of the PREFIRE satellites is a 6U CubeSat. They measure around 90 cm in height and nearly 120 cm in width when the solar panels, which will power the satellite, are deployed.
The two satellites will be placed in a near-polar orbit (a type of low Earth orbit) at an altitude of about 525 kilometres.
Its two CubeSats can study far-infrared radiation from the Earth’s pole and the data collected by them would help scientists better understand the energy budget of the planet.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

1 and 2 only
2 and 3 only
1 and 3 only
1, 2 and 3

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Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3. All three statements are drawn from the article.

Mains practice

Discuss the background, key issues and significance of NASA's Mission To Study Heat Emissions At Poles: Mission Prefire for India.

Answer in 250 words.

View answer approach

ABOUT PREFIRE
Background and context
Key facts and institutional framework
Significance and way forward

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Frequently asked questions

Why is Nasa'S Mission To Study Heat Emissions At Poles: Mission Prefire in the news?

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched one of the two climate satellites, which would study heat emissions at Earth’s poles, sitting atop Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from Mahia, New Zealand. The second satellite will be launched in the following days.

What are the key facts about Nasa'S Mission To Study Heat Emissions At Poles: Mission Prefire?

THE PURPOSE: The two shoebox-sized cube satellites, or CubeSats, will measure how much heat the Arctic and Antarctica — two of the coldest regions on the Earth — radiate into space and how this influences the planet’s climate. The mission has been named PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-Infrared Experiment) and was jointly developed by NASA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (US). CubeSats are essentially miniature satellites whose basic design is a 10 cm x10 cm x 10 cm (which makes up for “one unit” or “1U”) cube — just a little bigger than a Rubik’s cube — and weight not more than 1.33 kg.

Why is Nasa'S Mission To Study Heat Emissions At Poles: Mission Prefire important for UPSC preparation?

The topic connects current developments with Environment, Economy, Science & Technology and is relevant for both objective revision and analytical answer writing.