SAN FRANCISCO - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, apparently tired of launching its own weather satellites, has decided to just buy the data from two plucky commercial space companies. NOAA has awarded contracts to Spire Global and PlanetiQ to provide radio occultation data for both terrestrial and space weather forecasts, because who needs to own the means of production when you can just rent the output?
The NOAA National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service Commercial Data Program announced Aug. 13 that it's shelling out $3.7 million to Spire for 4,600 daily global navigation satellite system (GNSS) profiles and 1,200 temporal resolution enhancements. Because regular profiles just weren't enough, these enhancements reveal how atmospheric conditions change throughout the day, which is apparently a thing forecasters need.
PlanetiQ, not to be outdone, won a $2.7 million contract to deliver 4,200 GNSS profiles and 500 total electron content tracks per day. Total electron content, for the uninitiated, is what feeds space weather forecasts, which is a fancy way of saying it helps predict when solar storms might fry your GPS.
Both companies will deliver their precious radio occultation data from Sept. 18 through Dec. 1, 2026. That's right, folks, we're planning weather data purchases over two years in advance, because nothing says 'agile commercial partnership' like a fixed delivery schedule.
NOAA issued a request for proposals in May for commercial space-based environmental monitoring data, and now the agency plans to establish an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle later this year with a ceiling of $2.35 billion over 10 years. That's a lot of zeros, but hey, when you're buying data from space, you might as well go big.
Through the IDIQ, NOAA will 'pilot, operationalize, and expand the use of commercial data,' according to the agency announcement. 'NOAA's use of commercial data lowers costs and drives innovation, thereby improving weather forecasting and modeling, space weather prediction, and decision support services across its mission areas.' Translation: 'We realized building our own stuff is expensive and slow, so we're outsourcing to the kids with the cool satellites.'
PlanetiQ, for its part, announced Aug. 12 that it completed testing of its next-generation of GNOMES satellites in preparation for launch later this year. Because nothing says 'weather forecasting' like a constellation named after garden statues.
'This milestone represents an important step toward delivering more atmospheric observations to our customers around the world,' Chris McCormick, PlanetiQ chairman, president and founder, said in a statement. '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.' That's corporate-speak for 'We're launching more satellites so we can sell more data.'
NOAA shares commercial weather data it receives with NASA, the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy to feed numerical weather prediction models and support space weather applications. U.S. government and international government agencies also use commercial data for operations and research, because apparently even governments like to share cloud storage.
'NOAA's continued use of Spire's data reflects the confidence we've built through years of delivering reliable, operational weather observations at global scale,' Spire CEO Theresa Condor said in a statement. 'Government and commercial partnerships are critical to advancing weather forecasting, combining the innovation and speed of the commercial sector with the mission expertise of agencies like NOAA to bring proven capabilities into operations and ultimately help businesses and communities better prepare.' And also because NOAA has a budget and Spire has satellites, so it's a match made in heaven, or at least in low Earth orbit.