Your Web News in One Place

Help Webnuz

Referal links:

Sign up for GreenGeeks web hosting
December 6, 2015 04:00 pm

India Wins Contract To Launch Private Weather Satellites

schwit1 writes: The first two satellites in the first private weather satellite constellation will be launched on India's PSLV rocket. This project is a win-win for aerospace. Not only will this weather constellation help shift ownership of weather satellites from government to private ownership, the company's decision to use India's PSLV rocket increases the competition in the launch industry. From the article: "With 12 satellites on orbit, PlanetiQ will collect approximately 34,000 'occultations' per day, evenly distributed around the globe with high-density sampling over both land and water. Each occultation is a vertical profile of atmospheric data with very high vertical resolution, comprised of measurements less than every 200 meters from the Earth's surface up into the ionosphere. The data is similar to that collected by weather balloons, but more accurate, more frequent and on a global scale. 'The world today lacks sufficient data to feed into weather models, especially the detailed vertical data that is critical to storm prediction. That's why we see inaccurate or ambiguous forecasts for storms like Hurricane Joaquin, which can put numerous lives at risk and cost businesses millions of dollars due to inadequate preparation or risk management measures,' McCormick said. 'Capturing the detailed vertical structure of the atmosphere from pole to pole, especially over the currently under-sampled oceans, is the missing link to improving forecasts of high-impact weather.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.


Original Link: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/KHZAFFzqUGQ/india-wins-contract-to-launch-private-weather-satellites

Share this article:    Share on Facebook
View Full Article

Slashdot

Slashdot was originally created in September of 1997 by Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda. Today it is owned by Geeknet, Inc..

More About this Source Visit Slashdot