NEWS · STARTUPS · #1885
U.S. Air Force awards WindBorne up to $49M contract to buy balloon-collected weather data
The U.S. Air Force will purchase atmospheric sensor data from WindBorne Systems’ fleet of roughly 700 autonomous weather balloons under a contract worth up to $49 million; purchases are made as-needed and so far total $1.7 million. WindBorne feeds these empirical observations into its deep-learning forecasting model, WeatherMesh 6, and says the deal (awarded without competitive bidding) will support constellation growth and R&D.
KEY POINTS
- Air Force will purchase atmospheric sensor data from WindBorne Systems’ fleet of roughly 700 autonomous weather balloons under a contract worth up to $49 million; purchases are made as-needed and so far total $1.7 million.
- WindBorne feeds these empirical observations into its deep-learning forecasting model, WeatherMesh 6, and says the deal (awarded without competitive bidding) will support constellation growth and R&D.
- A sizeable Air Force procurement of balloon-collected data validates demand for empirical inputs to deep-learning weather models and funds scaling and R&D of an operational sensing constellation.
WHY IT MATTERS
A sizeable Air Force procurement of balloon-collected data validates demand for empirical inputs to deep-learning weather models and funds scaling and R&D of an operational sensing constellation.