The first weather-radar satellite ever developed for commercial use, called Tomorrow-R1, was launched on May 14 by the Boston-based Tomorrow.io platform for weather information. The satellite successfully started operating while in orbit two days later, according to the announcement.
The satellite, which was launched using a Falcon 9 rocket by SpaceX, proved to be a significant advancement in the space industry’s weather monitoring sector.
Weather forecasts and other atmospheric emergencies could be predicted and planned using proprietary software from Tomorrow.io. The information was gathered from a number of government radars, satellites, weather stations, and other instruments that helped with the collection of weather data.
But a much greater variety of data will be available thanks to the next satellite. With a Ka-band radar that is perfect for spotting precipitation and important ocean parameters, it is in a polar orbit 500 km above Earth and is now orbiting the planet. In addition, Tomorrow-R1 is the first member of the Tomorrow.io constellation of active and passive sensors. The company claims that this constellation will enable near real-time scans of precipitation and atmospheric profiles for any location on Earth, leading to advancements in global weather forecasting and climate observation.
“Up to this point, there have only been a few number of atmospheric radars launched into space, all of which were constructed by government organisations with significant expenditures and protracted development schedules. Shimon Elkabetz, CEO and co-founder of Tomorrow.io, stated that the company is providing a step change in price-to-performance ratio, made possible through private innovation.
Shimon also discussed how the government missions are only allowed to use a single satellite with revisit rates that range from days to weeks due to the high expenditures of weather and satellite systems. We’re constructing the de facto weather GPS network, she continued.
Rei Goffer, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder of Tomorrow.io, noted that around five billion people today don’t have access to dependable weather radar coverage, creating a significant gap in the calibre and accessibility of life-saving weather data. We are taking a significant step to correct this since those most affected by climate change are currently the least prepared to deal with it. Tomorrow.io’s constellation will enable climate adaptation for future generations as the earth enters a period of weather disasters brought on by climate change, food insecurity, and new levels of volatility and risk.
Making Ahead Plans
The Tomorrow.io team revealed its aspirations for space travel in 2021, and in less than two years they have created and launched their first satellite. This is just the beginning, according to John Springmann, VP of Space & Sensors at Tomorrow.io, and they are confidently moving on to the next stage of operationalizing a full-scale constellation.
The same year, a case study was done in which JetBlue Airlines, based in New York, said that Tomorrow.io’s insights on predicting the course and stop point of a storm helped them save needless delays and cancellations. According to CNBC news, this information helped the airlines save $50,000 every month. This technique would become more exact and thorough with the future satellites.
The DOD has given the corporation more than $20 million in contracts, and it is currently putting a Collaborative R&D Agreement with NOAA into effect. According to Dr. J. Marshall Shepherd, Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Georgia, “the prospects of a commercial follow-on mission to the NASA Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM), but with 10 times the revisit rate, presents an incredibly exciting future for the global weather community.”
