Contract heralds "new paradigm in weather forecasting"

The cost of deploying weather satellites could be cut by 95 per cent following the signing of a contract to put miniaturised weather observing and forecasting technology into space.

The Satellite Applications Catapult signed the contract to put Orbital Micro Systems’ In Orbit Demonstrator (IOD) technology into orbit at the STFC RAL Space Appleton Space Conference, which was held on December 7, 2017.

Consisting of a 10 x 10 x 15cm sized instrument in a 3U CubeSat satellite, the payload will be launched in autumn 2018 by Webster, Texas-based NanoRacks and put into low earth orbit via their CubeSat deployer (NRCSD) on the International Space Station. Innovate UK has invested £1.5m in the IOD programme, which offers a CubeSat platform from Clyde Space and associated launch for four missions.

Boulder, Colorado-based OMS develops advanced instrumentation for small satellites that are said to gather weather data more frequently and with better clarity than the large institutional satellites that are currently in use.