PlanetiQ Awarded $6.5 Million NOAA Contract to Supply Radio Occultation (RO) Data for the Commercial Weather Pilot Data Program
September 10 2024 - 1:38PM
Business Wire
Highlights:
- NOAA has awarded PlanetiQ a contract to supply their
proprietary radio occultation (RO) data in a new one-year Delivery
Order (DO-4) valued at over $6.5M.
- PlanetiQ data uniquely provides highly accurate global
observations of the atmosphere and ionosphere measured via the
company’s proprietary GNSS Radio Occultation (RO) measurements with
uniquely high Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)
- The company’s GNOMES-5, launched in August 2024, is equipped
with PlanetiQ’s proprietary Pyxis sensor technology - the highest
sensitivity GNSS-RO instrument ever flown - producing over 2200
soundings per day and uniquely predicting severe weather and
climate as it can penetrate any type of weather down to the Earth’s
surface and across the entire globe.
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.
About PlanetiQ
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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Diane Murphy (Diane@Aquariusgroup.net); +1.310.658.8756