# Commercial Satellites Will Transform Weather Forecasting Under New NOAA Contracts
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded radio-occultation contracts to two private space companies, Spire Global and PlanetiQ, expanding the federal weather agency's reliance on commercial constellation operators for critical atmospheric data. The contracts represent a strategic shift toward leveraging small-satellite technology to enhance weather prediction accuracy and speed across North America and the globe.
Radio occultation works by measuring how radio signals from GPS and other global navigation satellites bend as they pass through Earth's atmosphere. That bending reveals precise information about temperature, humidity, and pressure at different altitudes. NOAA operates the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate, or COSMIC program, which currently flies six satellites collecting this data. The new commercial contracts supplement COSMIC's aging infrastructure.
Spire Global operates a constellation of microsatellites already in orbit, with over 100 satellites deployed across multiple orbital inclinations. The company has transmitted atmospheric data to NOAA for several years through existing partnerships. PlanetiQ, founded by former University Corporation for Atmospheric Research scientists, specializes specifically in radio-occultation sensing and has designed its satellites to excel at capturing atmospheric profiles with high vertical resolution.
The contracts formalize what has been an ad hoc relationship. NOAA gains access to a steady stream of radio-occultation observations from commercial operators without bearing the full development and launch costs. For Spire and PlanetiQ, the agreements provide stable revenue and validation that their technology meets federal weather service standards.
Radio occultation data fills critical gaps in conventional weather observation networks. Ground-based weather stations cluster in populated areas. Weather radar and satellite infrared imaging have blind spots over oceans and mountains. Radio-occultation satellites orbit globally and measure the atmosphere with precision that rivals radiosondes, the balloon-borne instruments meteorologists launch twice daily from select locations worldwide. The observations feed directly into NOAA's numerical weather prediction models, which drive forecast accuracy 3 to 10 days out.
Commercial constellations offer frequency advantages. Spire's 100-satellite network generates dozens of occultation measurements per day. A single microsatellite performs thousands of atmospheric soundings monthly. NOAA's aging COSMIC constellation, launched in 2006, produces fewer measurements and faces obsolescence within the decade. By contracting with commercial operators, NOAA extends atmospheric monitoring coverage without waiting for congressional funding cycles and NASA development timelines required to build and launch a replacement government constellation.
The timing reflects broader trends in federal space acquisition. NASA and NOAA increasingly purchase data and services from commercial operators rather than owning and operating satellite systems. SpaceX launches NOAA satellites. Planet Labs provides Earth imaging under contract. Commercial weather companies now feed data into the National Weather Service operational environment.
Spire and PlanetiQ will continue flying their own commercial applications alongside NOAA data delivery. They sell weather information to airlines, maritime operators, and energy companies. Government contracts guarantee baseline revenue that supports broader constellation operations. This arrangement benefits both parties: NOAA gets timely atmospheric data at lower cost, and commercial operators achieve financial stability.
The contracts extend through the late 2020s, positioning radio occultation as a permanent component of NOAA's observing system. Future agreements may expand the number of commercial operators or increase data requirements as constellations grow larger and revisit times shrink. NOAA's weather forecasters gain a tool that transforms raw GPS signals into the atmospheric intelligence that drives hurricane track predictions and severe weather warnings.