Things to Know about NASA's Twin Polar Satellites

All images: NASA

A Study of the Arctic and Antarctic

NASA recently announced that twin shoebox-size climate satellites will soon be studying two of the most remote regions on Earth: the Arctic and Antarctic. The mission will measure the amount of heat the planet emits into space from these polar regions.

How Does this Help Science at Large?

The mission will boost our understanding of how much heat Earth’s polar regions radiate out to space and how that influences our climate, NASA said.

A Look at How 'CubeSats' Would Work

Each of PREFIRE’s cube satellites, or CubeSats, will use a thermal infrared spectrometer to measure the heat, in the form of far-infrared energy, radiated into space by Earth’s surface and atmosphere.

Data Would Help Improve Polar, Global Climate Models

The CubeSats would provide new details on how Earth’s atmosphere and ice influence the amount of heat being radiated out to space from the Arctic and Antarctic. The data from the twin satellites would also help improve polar and global climate models.