Next-Generation Weather Satellites Clear Manufacturing, Testing Milestone
GNOMES Spacecraft Set for Launch Later This Year to Expand Atmospheric Data Constellation
A new set of atmospheric-sensing satellites has finished manufacturing and testing, clearing a milestone toward a launch planned for later this year.
“This milestone represents an important step toward delivering more atmospheric observations to our customers around the world.”
Chris McCormick, PlanetiQ
Golden, CO-based PlanetiQ builds and operates a commercial satellite constellation that uses GNSS radio occultation, or GNSS-RO, technology to measure atmospheric conditions for weather forecasting and space weather monitoring. The spacecraft are the next generation of PlanetiQ’s GNOMES satellites.
The satellites are expected to ship for launch integration in the coming weeks, according to the release. PlanetiQ did not specify a launch date, vehicle or site.
Once in orbit, the additional satellites will expand PlanetiQ’s existing constellation and increase the number of atmospheric profiles available daily to weather agencies, researchers and commercial customers, the company said.
“This milestone represents an important step toward delivering more atmospheric observations to our customers around the world,” Chris McCormick, chairman, president and founder of PlanetiQ, said in a news release. “By expanding our constellation, we will increase the availability of the highest-precision GNSS-RO profiles available, supporting more accurate weather forecasts, enhanced situational awareness, and better informed decision-making.”
The satellites carry PlanetiQ’s Pyxis sensors, which the company says can simultaneously track signals from all four major GNSS constellations — GPS, BeiDou, GLONASS and Galileo — using a 75-degree limb-sounding field of view. PlanetiQ says that field of view allows each satellite to observe more GNSS transmitters at once, producing more radio occultation observations per hour than other operators of similar constellations. The company did not name those competitors or provide comparative figures, and the claim could not be independently verified.
PlanetiQ said its GNSS-RO data is used by NOAA, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and the UK Met Office. The company said the U.S. Air Force, Space Force and Navy also use its data, and that researchers can access it through NASA’s Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition program.
The new satellites will ship for integration in the coming weeks, with launch expected later this year, PlanetiQ said.