PlanetiQ, a leading innovator of global atmospheric observing systems, has been awarded a Delivery Order (DO-4) contract valued at over $6.5M to supply the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with their proprietary radio occultation (RO) data for a period of one year beginning September 18, 2024.
Under the Radio Occultation Data Buy II (RODB-2) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, PlanetiQ will provide 2,200 GNSS-RO profiles per day to support NOAA’s Commercial Weather Data Program. NOAA, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and other weather prediction centers around the world will utilize PlanetiQ’s data to ingest into their numerical weather prediction models to improve their weather forecasts.
“In addition to our deep understanding of RO technology, PlanetiQ provides highly valuable data to the government, military and commercial sectors to benefit people and businesses around the world, including our armed forces,” said PlanetiQ CEO Ira Scharf. “PlanetiQ has built the only system capable of profiling the thermodynamic state of the atmosphere with very high vertical resolution, precision and accuracy routinely down to the surface under any and all weather conditions, over any type of surface, across the globe.”
Successful launch of PlanetiQ’s GNOMES-5 Satellite
On August 16, 2024, PlanetiQ successfully launched the 5th generation of its GNOMES Satellites (GNOMES-5), which began producing the world’s highest quality radio occultation data within 24 hours of launch from Vandenberg AFB. GNOMES-5 is equipped with the world’s best weather sensor, a PlanetiQ-proprietary technology sensor called Pyxis, which enables PlanetiQ to supply the highest quality GNSS-RO data for enhanced weather forecasting and atmospheric research to both government and commercial customers, including airlines, insurance, energy, agriculture and financial services. In addition to having the same world class Pyxis sensor as on GNOMES-4, GNOMES-5 carries the world’s most accurate high gain, GNSS dual linear polarization antenna for radio occultation and related applications, which profiles heavy precipitation and snowfall, and measures surface reflections to determine ocean surface winds, soil moisture, sea ice, rivers and lakes, flooding, and freeze-thaw transitions.
Pyxis receives signals from all four world-wide GNSS constellations (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and Beidou), and is powerful enough to provide more than double the amount of data available from the next-best GNSS-RO sensors currently on orbit.
The mission of PlanetiQ is to bring innovation to the global atmospheric observing system at low cost, via high performance GNSS and related observations to fill the urgent need for highly accurate data to improve weather and climate forecasts to save lives and provide a more environmentally secure future for our planet. Founded in 2015 and privately owned, PlanetiQ is building, launching, and operating a commercial constellation of the highest quality GNSS-RO weather satellites, with an eventual full constellation of 20 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites.
For more information, including FAQs, visuals and team bios, visit: PlanetiQ website.
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