SAN FRANCISCO – Muon Space will deliver space weather data to the U.S. Space Force under a $400,000 contract option announced July 11.
Under the unique $2.8 million contract with Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Weather Systems Branch and the Defense Innovation Unit awarded in 2022, Muon will deliver terrestrial weather products to the Air Force 557th Weather Wing from a space-based prototype microwave sensor. The choice directs Muon to also monitor the ionosphere for the U.S. Space Force through September 2024.
“Obviously solar activity influences the ionosphere,” Muon CEO Johnny Dyer told SpaceNews. “It is a really essential measurement for users of RF communication systems.”
The Department of Defense plans to guage data from Muon’s second satellite, MuSat-2, for operational weather forecasting, ionospheric modeling and climate change assessment. Data collected in the course of the pilot program will probably be available for government-run Observing System Simulation Experiments or OSSEs. Goverment agencies conduct OSSEs to evaluate the impact of recent datasets on forecasts and models.
For instance, the Air Force could simulate the impact of knowledge gathered in the course of the MuSat-2 pilot on numerical weather prediction. Pilot project data will probably be compatible with the USAF’s Weather Virtual Private Cloud.
Defense Department Customers
The newest contract option expands Muon’s customer base inside the Defense Department. It also demonstrates the flexibility of Muon’s software-defined instrument, Dyer said.
“We’ll be delivering three different products using essentially the identical instrument in orbit,” Dyer said.
Muon will supply the Air Force with global soil moisture and sea surface wind measurements along with ionospheric data for the Space Force.
First Satellite Lauch
Muon’s first satellite launched in June on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare flight is “outperforming our expectations,” Dyer said. “It’s been a improbable first platform for us to have in space and it’ll be a helpful asset as we proceed to upgrade the software onboard.”
MuSat-2, is scheduled to launch in February. While MuSat-2 shares the identical spacecraft bus as MuSat-1, it’s going to be equipped with Muon’s first software-defined sensor.
“Muon Space is honored by the Air Force, Space Force and DIU’s belief in our capabilities to bring recent insights to DoD weather and ionospheric models with recent data to incorporate soil moisture, ocean winds and total electron content. We’re excited to showcase the operational relevance of this business space dataset to the DoD,” Dyer said in a press release.