Published on 30 Aug 2023 | Erin Hokanson Wagner
NASA has selected the launch provider for the PREFIRE mission. Rocket Lab USA Inc. of Long Beach, California will launch both PREFIRE CubeSats during the spring of 2024. The first PREFIRE CubeSat launch is nominally scheduled for May 1, 2024, and the launch of the other PREFIRE CubeSat is scheduled for May 15, 2024. For more details, see the announcement on NASA’s website - https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-announces-launch-service-for-arctic-warming-experiment.
This work is supported by NASA.
- Second PREFIRE Satellite Launched!
- Update on second PREFIRE CubeSat launch
- First PREFIRE Satellite Launched!
- Rocket assembly pics and PI radio interview
- Launch update and a new short video!
- NASA's tiny twin polar satellites (first launch soon)
- Names for the PREFIRE Launches!
- Pre-launch anticipation of PREFIRE CubeSat science
Recent Posts
Rocket Lab successfully launched the second of two PREFIRE satellites from Mahia, New Zealand at 3:15 pm NZST (3:15 am UTC).
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Rocket Lab has scheduled the second attempt at the #2 (and final) PREFIRE launch for June 5, 2024 at 03:13 am UTC! That is June 04, 2024 at 10:13 pm Central time in North America.
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Rocket Lab successfully launched the first of two PREFIRE satellites from Mahia, New Zealand at 7:41 pm NZST (7:41 am UTC).
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Courtesy of Rocket Lab, we have some photos to share of the PREFIRE CubeSats being carefully attached to their Electron rockets! Another highlight for today is Radio New Zealand's short interview with Tristan L'Ecuyer, the PREFIRE Principal Investigator (PI).
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It is late autumn at the Rocket Lab launch complex in New Zealand, and forecasts of unsuitable weather have delayed the first PREFIRE CubeSat launch until May 25, 2024 at 7:28 am UTC. While you are waiting, enjoy a new mission overview video! It includes realistic animations that show the way the CubeSat solar panels will deploy, the view of Earth that our spectrometer will have, and why two CubeSats are better than one.
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