Photo by NOAA / NESDIS

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) has purchased $24.3 million worth of commercial and space weather data from PlanetiQ.

The award, issued under the Commercial Data Program’s Radio Occultation Data Buy 2 (RODB-2), represents NOAA’s single largest commercial satellite weather data purchase to date and a threefold increase from PlanetiQ’s most recent data award from NOAA.

The contract, announced Tuesday, requires PlanetiQ to deliver 7,000 GNSS-RO profiles per day, including 500 enhanced high-signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) profiles, as well as 2,500 low-latency total electron content (TEC) tracks daily, beginning on September 18. GNSS-RO data is used by NOAA, NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, and international government weather agencies for operational and research purposes.

“Our ability to provide enhanced high-SNR profiles, at seven times the SNR of any other commercial company, sets us apart,” Chris McCormick, president and chairman of PlanetiQ said in the announcement. “I founded PlanetiQ because radio occultation is one of the few technologies I’ve worked with that tangibly improves the human condition. It’s gratifying to see this capability recognized and scaled.”