Tag: weather forecasting

House Passes Infrastructure Spending Bill With Extra $1 Billion for NASA

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The House of Representatives passed H.R. 5376, the Build Back Better Act last week that includes billions of dollars in funds for NASA, NOAA and other scientific and technology agencies.

In addition to funding improvements to physical infrastructure, the measure puts a major emphasis on addressing climate change, a problem that the Biden Administration takes seriously. The previous president described as a Chinese plot to destroy American industry.

The bill now goes to the Senate where its fate is uncertain.

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NOAA GeoXO Program Formally Initiated

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Credit: NOAA

SILVER SPRING, Md. (NOAA PR) — NOAA’s next-generation geostationary satellite program, Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO), was formally initiated on November 9, 2021. GeoXO will now enter the program definition phase of development.

During the program definition phase, the GeoXO team will refine mission requirements, detail acquisition strategies, schedules, cost estimates, resource planning, and risk management, and confirm technology readiness.

GeoXO, as proposed, is a ground-breaking mission that will advance whole Earth System observations from geostationary orbit. GeoXO will supply vital information to address major environmental challenges of the future in support of U.S. weather, ocean, and climate operations. As NOAA’s next generation of geostationary satellites, the GeoXO mission will continue and expand observations provided by the GOES-R Series.

NOAA is working to ensure these critical observations are in place by the early 2030s as the GOES-R Series nears the end of its operational lifetime.

Tomorrow.io Awarded $19.3 Million U.S. Air Force Contract to Support Company’s First Weather Radar Satellites

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Agreement Positions Tomorrow.io to Deliver Data to the Air Force, Other Government Organizations and Commercial Entities. 

Boston, September 30, 2021 (Tomorrow.io PR) – Tomorrow.io, the world’s leading weather intelligence and climate security company, today announced that it was awarded a $19.3 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to support deployment of its proprietary radar-equipped weather satellites. The contract paves the way for a first-of-its-kind, commercially-owned constellation of approximately 32 small satellites to provide global coverage of 3-D precipitation and other critical weather and ocean observations, with much faster revisit times than currently available. 

Tomorrow.io will offer data-as-a-service from its spaceborne radars to the U.S. Air Force and other governmental agencies worldwide, while the main use will be direct ingestion into its proprietary modeling suite, which includes numerical weather models, AI-enabled nowcasting and flood forecasting. These cutting-edge models power Tomorrow.io’s Weather Intelligence Platform™, used by hundreds of businesses and organizations to plan for and respond to increasingly extreme weather and climate conditions. 

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NASA Selects Ball Aerospace & L3Harris for Geostationary and Extended Observations Sounder Phase A Study Contracts

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A view of the Earth from the EWS-G1 satellite taken on September 1, 2020. Originally launched in 2006 as GOES-13, the satellite provided operational weather coverage over the United States’ East Coast for 10 years before being replaced in the GOES-East position by GOES-16. The transfer to the Department of Defense and relocation of EWS-G1 is the culmination of joint efforts between SMC, NOAA and NASA. (Credit: U.S. Space Force’s MARK IV-B Program Office)

GREENBELT, Md. (NASA PR) — NASA has selected Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation of Boulder, Colorado, and L3Harries Technologies of Fort Wayne, Ind., for Geostationary and Extended Observations (GeoXO) Sounder (GXS) Phase A Study contracts. The GXS Phase A Study requirement will provide services to help meet the objectives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GeoXO program.

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Spire Global Awarded NOAA Contract to Deliver Satellite Weather Data

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VIENNA, Va. (Spire Global PR) — Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR) (“the Company” or “Spire”), a leading provider of space-based data, analytics and space services, today announced it has been awarded the next order to provide commercial radio occultation (RO) weather data for the National Oceanographic and Oceanic Administration’s (NOAA) operational Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. The order represents the largest volume of commercial weather data purchased to date by NOAA under the Commercial Weather Data Buy Program.

This purchase comes as NOAA has stated its intention to purchase increasing volumes of commercial RO data. The data provided by Spire will increase the volume of RO data available for assimilation into the national weather prediction models, improving the accuracy of those models and decreasing uncertainty in weather forecasting.

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EUMETSAT to Buy Meteorological Data from Commercial Supplier for First Time

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DARMSTADT, Germany (EUMETSAT PR) — Europe’s meteorological satellite agency, EUMETSAT, is launching an innovative pilot programme to buy, for the first time, data from a commercial satellite fleet operator for use in weather forecasting.

EUMETSAT’s governing council has approved the acquisition of data from Spire Global Luxembourg S.a.r.l. at a maximum cost of €9 million [US $10.6 million] over three years.

EUMETSAT will receive the data, called radio occultation data, from Spire, process it, and disseminate it for use in weather forecast modelling.

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EUMETSAT to Operate Largest Number of Sentinel Missions Under Copernicus 2.0 Agreement

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Copernicus Land Surface Temperature Monitoring (LSTM) satellite. (Credit: Airbus)

DARMSTADT, Germany (EUMETSAT PR) — Europe’s meteorological satellite agency, EUMETSAT, will become the largest operator of the Copernicus programme’s Sentinel satellite missions under an agreement signed with the European Commission today. Copernicus is a component of the European Union Space Programme. It looks at our planet and its environment for the benefit of all European citizens. It offers information services that draw from satellite Earth Observation and in-situ (non-space) data.

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NOAA Brings GOES-17 Weather Satellite Out of Safe Mode

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GOES-R series satellite (Credit: NOAA)

NOAA reports engineers have brought the GOES-17 weather satellite out of the safe mode that it entered on Thursday after a computer glitch.

“Engineers expect its six instruments to return to normal operations soon. The probable cause of yesterday’s anomaly appears to be a memory bit error in the spacecraft computer. The engineering team says the computer has been responding correctly to commands,” the agency said in a statement.

“Earlier this morning, the Advanced Baseline Imager and Magnetometer were restored and data are flowing. The remaining four instruments are expected to come online later this morning.  The team expects some minor, short-term data quality issues while the instruments are being recalibrated, but GOES-17 is on track for a full recovery with no lasting effects to the satellite,” NOAA added.

NASA, ESA Partner in New Effort to Address Global Climate Change

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To measure water depth and salinity, the OMG project dropped probes by plane into fjords along Greenland’s coast. Shown here is one such fjord in which a glacier is undercut by warming water. The brown water is caused by sediment being dredged up from the base of the glacier by meltwater plumes. (Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) have formed a first-of-its-kind strategic partnership to observe Earth and its changing environment. The global climate is rapidly changing and the demand for accurate, timely, and actionable knowledge is more pressing than ever. Recognizing that climate change is an urgent global challenge, the timing is right for NASA and ESA, as partners in space, to join forces to lead and support a global response to climate change. The partnership is an effort to help address and mitigate climate change through monitoring Earth with combined efforts of both agencies in Earth science observations, research, and applications.

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The Rise Fund Announces $100 Million Strategic Investment in Climavision

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Partnership will Accelerate Growth of Newly Launched High-Resolution Weather Solutions Platform, Filling Critical Coverage Gaps in Existing Radar Networks

SAN FRANCISCO & FORT WORTH, Texas & LOUISVILLE, Ky.–(Rise Fund/Climavision PR)–The Rise Fund, TPG’s global impact investing platform, today announced a $100 million strategic investment in Climavision, a pioneering weather services and intelligence platform powered by a private network of high-resolution radars, GPS-RO data, and proprietary software to vastly improve the timing and accuracy of weather forecasting and to fill low-level gaps in existing weather surveillance.

Climavision was formed out of Enterprise Electronics Corporation (EEC), the world’s largest privately held commercial supplier of weather radar systems. EEC, which is majority controlled by the Cookes family, has a 50-year history and more than 1,200 installations across 95 countries. By combining lower altitude, proprietary data with cutting-edge machine learning and AI technology, Climavision’s one-of-a-kind offering provides 10x higher resolution and more accurate forecasting to address critical coverage gaps left by existing radar networks across the U.S.

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Raytheon Intelligence and Space to Lead New Center Dedicated to Advancing U.S. Weather Forecasting

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SILVER SPRING, Md. (NOAA PR) — NOAA has announced that Raytheon Intelligence and Space has been chosen to design and develop the Earth Prediction Innovation Center (EPIC), an extramural center that will unite academia, industry and government to help create the most user-friendly and user-accessible comprehensive Earth modeling system.

Raytheon Intelligence and Spaceoffsite link brings to EPIC proven expertise in scientific leadership, software engineering, software infrastructure, and delivery of support services to government, academia and industry researchers who will collaborate within the EPIC framework.

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NASA Selects Geostationary and Extended Orbits Imager Phase A Contracts

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Hurricane Humberto (Credit: NOAA)

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA has selected L3Harris Technologies Inc. of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Raytheon Company of El Segundo, California, for the Geostationary and Extended Orbits (GEO-XO) Imager (GXI) Phase A Study contracts. The GXI Phase A Study requirement will provide services to help meet the objectives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GEO-XO program.

The total value of each of these one-year firm-fixed price contracts is approximately $6M. The work will be performed at the contractors’ facilities in Indiana and California.

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ClimaCell Adds $77 Million in Funding and Unveils Tomorrow.io

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Weather satellite. (Credit: Tomorrow.io)

ClimaCell has changed its name to Tomorrow.io and raised new funding to accelerate SaaS growth and space operations

BOSTON (ClimaCell PR) – ​ClimaCell, the world’s leading weather intelligence platform is excited to announce its new funding round led by Stonecourt Capital and joined by Highline Capital, bringing total funding raised to more than $185 million. The company is also changing its name from ClimaCell to Tomorrow.io.

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Rocket Lab Set for 19th Electron Launch

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Electron launches with OHB satellite. (Credit: Rocket Lab webcast)

Rocket Lab Launch Update

Mission Name: They Go Up So Fast
Launch Vehicle: Electron
Launch Window: No Earlier than 23 March NZT/22 March UTC
Launch Time: No earlier than 11:20 am NZT/22:20 UTC/6:20 p.m. EDT
Launch Site: Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Rocket Lab’s 19th Electron mission will deploy a range of satellites for commercial and government satellite operators, as well as place a next-generation Rocket Lab Photon spacecraft in orbit to build spacecraft heritage ahead of Rocket Lab’s mission to the Moon for NASA later this year. 

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