Spire Global has been awarded US$9.4m by the National Oceanographic and Oceanic Administration (NOAA) to provide radio occultation (RO) data for eight months.
The award is part of an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract for NOAA’s Commercial Weather Data Program’s Radio Occultation Data Buy II. The near-real-time RO data provided by Spire will be used for NOAA’s operational weather forecasts, space weather models and climate research, among other applications. The company’s RO data consists of vertical profiles of atmospheric measurements, including pressure, humidity and temperature across all points of the globe.
“The increasing pace of extreme weather events is causing significant harm – impacting individuals, communities, businesses and the economy at large,” said Chuck Cash, vice president of federal sales at Spire. “Through our long-standing relationship with NOAA, we are using space-based radio occultation measurements to address the critical need for accurate weather forecasts globally and help the world better prepare for and mitigate the impacts of extreme weather.”
Spire has provided data to the agency since 2016. In 2023, the company was awarded a US$2.8m contract by NOAA to provide data on ocean surface wind speeds. Read the full story, here.
