NASA’s tiny twin polar satellites (first launch soon)

15 May 2024 | Tim Michaels

An artist’s realistic concept of one of the two PREFIRE CubeSats in orbit about 525 kilometers (326 miles) above the ground. The CubeSat in this image would be moving from the left side of the image to the right side, keeping the broad sides of its two dark-colored solar panels lit up by the sun as long as possible (to charge its batteries).
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

After a long-distance voyage to the Rocket Lab launch complex in New Zealand, the tiny twin PREFIRE CubeSats are being prepped for launch aboard two separate Electron rockets. The first PREFIRE CubeSat launch (referred to as Ready, Aim, PREFIRE by Rocket Lab) may occur as soon as May 22, 2024. Depending on where in the world you are, its launch time of about 7:30 am UTC may be during the day (most of Europe, Africa, Asia, and some of Australia) or night (North and South America, New Zealand, and some of Australia). Just how tiny are they? Each is the size and shape of a large shoebox when their solar panels are folded up! For more details about these spacecraft and their important mission, see this new NASA post.

This work is supported by NASA.