Muon Space Awarded SBIR Phase I Contract by AFWERX for Weather Intelligence

Muon Space Awarded SBIR Phase I Contract by AFWERX for Weather Intelligence

Muon Space, a LEO satellite constellation company revolutionizing the way Earth is monitored from space, has been selected by AFWERX for an SBIR Phase I contract focused on weather intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and operational mission planning. 

Muon Space will perform a feasibility study to determine the benefit of modifying its multispectral Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) instrument to support the Department of Defense's (DoD) cloud characterization observation capability.

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and eliminating bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution. 

The Department of the Air Force (DAF) began offering the Open Topic SBIR/STTR program in 2018 expanding the range of innovations the DAF funded and now Muon Space will continue its journey to create and provide innovative EO/IR cloud characterization capabilities.

The USAF and USSF rely on timely, accurate cloud characterisation and weather information for global defense and National Security missions; however, the DoD is navigating the challenge of replacing ageing Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites currently in operation past their end-of-life and at risk of failure. Muon Space is developing an EO/IR constellation solution that offers a commercial path to fill these gaps and ensure mission-critical data delivery.

"The DoD is pivoting to a more resilient distributed weather satellite architecture that counts on a new generation of space companies to develop more innovative integrated sensor and spacecraft constellations," said Greg Smirin, President of Muon Space. "This feasibility study is one of the first steps of many in Muon Space's journey to develop a full cloud characterization observation capability and we are excited to partner with AFWERX to explore the potential applications of our technology solutions."

Muon Space's core offerings of data services and mission-tailored Constellation-as-a-Service have significant commercial traction across commercial, government, and civil sectors including a recently announced contract with climate tech company Hydrosat. Muon Space also earned additional funding as an option to the company's contract with Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLMC)'s Weather Systems Branch and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to collect ionospheric data on their MuSat-2 satellite mission. Announced in July, this is an expansion in scope to the original contract awarded to Muon Space in September 2022 to develop a space-based prototype for global weather sensing.

Click here to learn more about Muon Space's Climate Data for Space.


Publisher: SatNow
Tags:-  SatelliteLEO

GNSS Constellations - A list of all GNSS satellites by constellations

beidou

Satellite NameOrbit Date
BeiDou-3 G4Geostationary Orbit (GEO)17 May, 2023
BeiDou-3 G2Geostationary Orbit (GEO)09 Mar, 2020
Compass-IGSO7Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)09 Feb, 2020
BeiDou-3 M19Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)16 Dec, 2019
BeiDou-3 M20Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)16 Dec, 2019
BeiDou-3 M21Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)23 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 M22Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)23 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 I3Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)04 Nov, 2019
BeiDou-3 M23Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)22 Sep, 2019
BeiDou-3 M24Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)22 Sep, 2019

galileo

Satellite NameOrbit Date
GSAT0223MEO - Near-Circular05 Dec, 2021
GSAT0224MEO - Near-Circular05 Dec, 2021
GSAT0219MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0220MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0221MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0222MEO - Near-Circular25 Jul, 2018
GSAT0215MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0216MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0217MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017
GSAT0218MEO - Near-Circular12 Dec, 2017

glonass

Satellite NameOrbit Date
Kosmos 2569--07 Aug, 2023
Kosmos 2564--28 Nov, 2022
Kosmos 2559--10 Oct, 2022
Kosmos 2557--07 Jul, 2022
Kosmos 2547--25 Oct, 2020
Kosmos 2545--16 Mar, 2020
Kosmos 2544--11 Dec, 2019
Kosmos 2534--27 May, 2019
Kosmos 2529--03 Nov, 2018
Kosmos 2527--16 Jun, 2018

gps

Satellite NameOrbit Date
Navstar 82Medium Earth Orbit19 Jan, 2023
Navstar 81Medium Earth Orbit17 Jun, 2021
Navstar 78Medium Earth Orbit22 Aug, 2019
Navstar 77Medium Earth Orbit23 Dec, 2018
Navstar 76Medium Earth Orbit05 Feb, 2016
Navstar 75Medium Earth Orbit31 Oct, 2015
Navstar 74Medium Earth Orbit15 Jul, 2015
Navstar 73Medium Earth Orbit25 Mar, 2015
Navstar 72Medium Earth Orbit29 Oct, 2014
Navstar 71Medium Earth Orbit02 Aug, 2014

irnss

Satellite NameOrbit Date
NVS-01Geostationary Orbit (GEO)29 May, 2023
IRNSS-1IInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)12 Apr, 2018
IRNSS-1HSub Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (Sub-GTO)31 Aug, 2017
IRNSS-1GGeostationary Orbit (GEO)28 Apr, 2016
IRNSS-1FGeostationary Orbit (GEO)10 Mar, 2016
IRNSS-1EGeosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)20 Jan, 2016
IRNSS-1DInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)28 Mar, 2015
IRNSS-1CGeostationary Orbit (GEO)16 Oct, 2014
IRNSS-1BInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)04 Apr, 2014
IRNSS-1AInclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO)01 Jul, 2013