Space infrastructure firm Redwire Corp. will supply the solar array technology that will be used to power PlanetiQ's weather and climate monitoring satellites, GNOMES-3.
"The solar arrays Redwire supplied for GNOMES-2 and GNOMES-3 and future radio occultation satellites will lead to improved weather forecasts and climate research," said Tom Campbell, Executive Vice President of Redwire Deployable Solutions. "We are excited to be collaborating with PlanetiQ by powering these important missions and improving life on Earth through innovative space technologies."
GNOMES-3 is one of the 20-satellite constellation that PlanetiQ intends to operate in low-Earth orbit by 2024. These satellites will collect weather, space weather and climate data using radio waves of navigation satellite, like the GPS, GLONASS and Galileo networks.
The data from GNOMES-3 will help deliver better weather forecasting and climate research and enable closer monitoring of space weather events, like solar flares and coronal mass ejections.
For such satellites to operate well, the solar power technology used has to be reliable, durable and effective. Redwire solar arrays are in use aboard a wide array of spacecraft, including the International Space Station.
The GNOMES-3 satellite will be aboard the Transporter 4, which is to launch on April 1 from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It is the third satellite in the GNSS Navigation and Occultation Measurement Satellite series. It has the capability to collect over 2,500 radio occultation measurements of the Earth’s atmosphere daily.
