Tomorrow.io announces first weather report from space-based radar

Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Joining the likes of NASA, weather intelligence company Tomorrow.io said Thursday its radar satellites have the unique ability to monitor precipitation intensity from space.

"This achievement places Tomorrow.io alongside NASA and JAXA (The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) as the only entities to have ever taken such measurements from orbit," the company announced.

Tomorrow.io said its satellites are able to close the gap in terms of availability and affordability for real-time, radar-based weather forecasting for every point on Earth. The company estimates that billions of people are currently outside of radar coverage.

"With initial measurements completed, we are now in the process of growing the overall constellation to enable a revolution in weather forecast accuracy globally," said John Springmann, a senior vice president of space and sensors at Tomorrow.io.

Tomorrow.io is not alone in the race to monitor weather from space. California-based Rocket Lab plans to launch seven miniature satellites that will gather data on Earth's atmosphere to improve weather forecasting, replace a decommissioned technology spacecraft and send twin navigation satellites into space.

NASA, the U.S. space agency, will also test so-called swarm technology -- to demonstrate how satellites can work together on diverse roles with in-space network communications and navigation between spacecraft.

Testing will include autonomous maneuvering to study how small spacecraft perform independent observations, which can support future science missions.

Twin 3U satellites provided by Virginia-based Spire Global Inc. will also observe in real time how Earth's turbulent atmosphere interacts with radio waves from GPS satellites. That will make it possible to improve the accuracy of long-term weather forecasts.

Tomorrow.io is supported in part by more than $20 million in contracts from the Defense Department and has a collaborative research and development agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).