Two small NASA satellites, which will monitor the evolution of cyclones hour by hour, are being carried into space today by a rocket of the American company Rocket Lab, which was launched from New Zealand.

The Electron rocket, which belongs to the micro-launcher category and is only 18 meters tall, was launched at 13:00 local time (04:00 Greek time) from Mahia, in northern New Zealand, according to Rocket Lab.

The two Cubesat-class satellites weigh about 5 kilograms and will be launched into orbit at an altitude of about 550 kilometers. A second rocket is expected to launch in about two weeks, also from Rocket Lab, to carry two more satellites to complete this small “constellation.”

Then he will be able to spend every hour over cyclones (or hurricanes in the Pacific), instead of every six hours that applies today. This mission was called TROPICS.

These satellites will allow scientists to no longer see “just what is happening at a given moment (…), but to actually see the evolution of things hour by hour,” noted the NASA scientist at a press conference today Will McCarthy.

“We will always need the big satellites,” he added. “But what we can glean from this mission is complementary information to that of the flagship satellites we already have,” he noted.

The information that will be collected on rainfall, temperature and humidity will allow the improvement of meteorological forecasts, especially regarding the place where the cyclone will make landfall and with what intensity, as well as the better preparation of possible evacuations of populations that they live in coastal areas.

“Many organizations, such as the US National Hurricane Center and the Joint Hurricane Warning Center, are ready to receive our images to help them keep their forecasters informed,” said NASA official Ben Kim.

In the long term a better understanding of the formation and evolution of these storms will allow the improvement of climate models.

The TROPICS “constellation” was originally planned to consist of six satellites, but the first two were lost due to the malfunctioning of the American company’s Astra rocket shortly after liftoff last year.

As the ocean surface warms, cyclones (or hurricanes) become more powerful, according to scientists.

Hurricane Ian that hit Florida in 2022 caused dozens of casualties and damage estimated at over $100 billion and was the costliest disaster worldwide last year.