GOLDEN, Colo. ~ On December 1, 2023, PlanetiQ, a leading innovator of global atmospheric observing systems, launched its fourth generation Radio Occultation (RO) measurement satellite, GNOMES-4, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The satellite was successfully deployed into Low-Earth Orbit at 10:36 am PT.

GNOMES-4 is equipped with the world's best weather sensor, a PlanetiQ-proprietary technology sensor called Pyxis. This enables PlanetiQ to offer the highest quality GNSS-RO data for enhanced weather forecasting and atmospheric research to both government and commercial customers such as airlines, insurance, energy, agriculture and financial services. The data produced are temperatures, pressures and water vapor readings similar to what a weather balloon would produce but adds the critical capability of obtaining data over the entire globe for better initialization of the global weather forecasting models.

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Pyxis is a fourth-generation radio occultation (RO) sensor that is smaller, lighter and consumes less power than previous versions while having nearly three times the data collection capability. It receives signals from all four world-wide GNSS constellations (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and Beidou) and is powerful enough to provide more than double the amount of data available from the next-best GPS-RO sensors currently on orbit. Pyxis also has the capability of routinely probing down into the lowest layers of the atmosphere where severe weather occurs.

In September 2023, PlanetiQ was selected by NASA to supply their highest quality GNSS-Radio Occultation data to enhance capabilities in weather and atmospheric research as part of their CSDA Program which has allocated $476M for commercial data over five years. In July 2023 PlanetiQ began daily delivery to NOAA of their highest quality SNR GNSS-Radio Occultation data under NOAA's IDIQ-2 operational Delivery Order-2 which is used by NOAA to improve our environment and save lives with superior weather forecasting and atmospheric research.

PlanetiQ's Pyxis technology is currently the only system capable of profiling the thermodynamic state of the atmosphere with very high vertical resolution precision and accuracy routinely down to the surface under any and all weather conditions across any type of surface around the globe.

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