Muon Space has been awarded an option to their 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.
The performance period for this contract is two years, extending through September 2024. This is an optional expansion in scope to the original contract that was awarded to Muon Space in September of 2022 to develop a space-based prototype for global weather sensing.
The Department of Defense (DoD) will evaluate the commercial data from Muon Space’s MuSat-2 satellite for operational use in weather forecasting, ionospheric modeling, impact applications and climate change assessments. Data collected during this pilot will be made accessible for use in government-run Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) and to evaluate improvements to the USAF’s current and emerging suite of numerical weather prediction and AI/ML modeling. The resultant data and interfaces from this effort will be compatible with the USAF’s Weather Virtual Private Cloud.
“Muon Space is honored by the Air Force, Space Force and DIU’s belief in our capabilities to bring new insights to DoD weather and ionospheric models with new data to include soil moisture, ocean winds, and total electron content. We’re excited to showcase the operational relevance of this commercial space dataset to the DoD.” — Jonny Dyer, CEO, Muon Space
Founded in 2021, Muon Space is launching a new generation of smallsats and sensors to monitor Earth’s climate and ecosystems with unprecedented fidelity. Muon Space’s state-of-the-art facility in the heart of Silicon Valley is optimized for manufacturing spacecraft and integrating payloads at scale. Regular launches began in June 2023, providing ever-increasing data sets addressing important geophysical and environmental applications and a platform to deliver new technologies to space. Muon Space’s experienced science and engineering teams are uniquely suited to deliver the most exquisite and reliable remote sensing solutions at the speed and scale required to address our most urgent climate challenges.
