NOAA is expanding its work with commercial satellite companies for weather data, working with 14 companies to acquire data across seven categories to improve weather forecasting.
NOAA announced partner companies to the Space-Based Environmental Monitoring indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract on Sept. 10, in an expansion of NOAA procures commercial data. The five-year base period begins on Sept. 1 and has a five-year base period and a five-year option that goes through Aug. 31, 2036.
Five companies were named to be eligible to provide GNSS-radio occultation (GNSS-RO) data for atmosphere profiling and ionospheric space weather: Spire Global, PlanetiQ, Ethereal Space, Precursor SPC, and Tomorrow.io.
Spire, Tomorrow.io, Muon Space are eligible to provide GNSS-reflectometry (GNSS-R) data for land and ocean surface observations.
Four companies are eligible to provide microwave sounder data for traditional and hyperspectral atmospheric temperature and moisture measurements: Spire Global, Tomorrow.io, BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems; and Weather Stream.
Five companies are named for multispectral imagery which includes low-light and wildland fire applications: Ethereal Space, Tomorrow.io, Muon Space, Hydrosat, and Tropical Weather Analytics.
Spire Global, PlanetiQ, Ethereal Space, and SpaceX are named for thermospheric neutral density for satellite orbit predictions.
And four companies — Tomorrow.io, Care Weather Technologies, Iceye US, and Umbra lab are named for scatterometry, altimetry, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and K/Ka/Ku-band radar, to measure atmospheric features.
No vendors have been named for infrared sounders to provide atmospheric vertical temperature and moisture profiles.
“NOAA is maximizing the impact and value of high-quality environmental data provided by our commercial partners that will benefit the American weather enterprise,” said Taylor Jordan, NOAA assistant secretary of commerce for environmental observation and prediction. “NOAA will support data streams and projects that harness cutting-edge instruments and science that advances our mission to protect lives, safeguard property, and strengthen the nation’s economy and national security.”
