PlanetiQ secures $15 million Air Force STRATFI contract

Commercial satellite operator PlanetiQ will develop and launch spacecraft equipped with next-generation instruments to gather terrestrial and space weather data with a $15 million U.S. Air Force Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) contract announced April 16.

PlanetiQ's next-generation satellites will provide extensive data on atmospheric temperature, pressure and water vapor in addition to revealing ocean-surface winds, sea states and soil moisture.

Under the two-year contract, Golden, Colorado-based PlanetiQ will develop and launch spacecraft equipped with next-generation Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation receivers to measure signals refracted through Earth's atmosphere as well as signals reflected off Earth's surface. In addition, PlanetiQ will refine data-assimilation techniques to integrate GNSS polarimetric radio occultation data. Polarimetric radio occultation data improves the characterization of precipitation in numerical weather models.