PlanetiQ announced that NASA has awarded the company an expanded contract through NASA's Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) program, broadening access to commercial satellite data for the scientific community. This contract expands PlanetiQ's CSDA portfolio to add high-SNR GNSS polarimetric radio-occultation data to PlanetiQ's existing NASA CSDA offerings of ionospheric scintillation, ionospheric total electron content, and high-SNR GNSS radio-occultation data. The expanded data offering will provide government researchers with access to advanced GNSS observations that can help improve the understanding of precipitation processes, atmospheric structure, and Earth system dynamics.

Polarized radio occultation (PRO) measurements have demonstrated the ability to characterize precipitation, detect rain and snowfall structure, identify melting layers, and observe variations in storm intensity. PlanetiQ uses a unique receiver to collect data with a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). High-SNR measurements are particularly important for precipitation applications because increased SNR improves sensitivity to lighter precipitation and certain cloud structures.

"By making polarized radio occultation data available through the CSDA program, NASA is enabling a broader research community to investigate new applications for these observations," said Dr. E. Robert Kursinski, Chief Scientist of PlanetiQ. "As more researchers gain access to high-SNR PRO data, we expect both the scientific understanding and the potential operational uses of the technology for precipitation and severe weather monitoring to expand."

According to NASA's press release, "Leveraging commercial data demonstrates NASA's commitment to strong public-private partnerships, allowing the agency to expand scientific insight while reducing costs and accelerating the delivery of data to researchers and decision-makers." PlanetiQ's GNSS-PRO measurements are acquired using high-rate, high-SNR receivers that enhance the detection of precipitation signatures and cloud structures. In addition to supporting atmospheric science research, these measurements are critical for operational applications related to rainfall characterization, snowfall detection, storm monitoring, and weather forecasting.

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