PlanetIQ

PlanetIQ is a Golden, Colorado-based commercial weather data company founded in 2016 that operates a constellation of small satellites to collect GPS radio occultation (GNSS-RO) measurements for improving numerical weather prediction accuracy. Radio occultation works by measuring how GNSS signals from GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou satellites bend as they pass through Earth's atmosphere at different tangent altitudes — these bending angles are processed into vertical profiles of temperature, pressure, and moisture with approximately 200 m vertical resolution, covering all latitudes and all weather conditions regardless of cloud cover or precipitation.

GNSS-RO data is uniquely valuable to operational meteorology because it requires no calibration from external reference, is unaffected by clouds or rain that block passive infrared sounders, and provides global coverage with no gaps. Assimilating RO data into weather forecast models measurably reduces forecast errors — studies show 5–12% improvement in 3-day forecast skill for mid-latitude systems. NOAA's COSMIC-2 constellation demonstrated the value of operational RO at scale, and PlanetIQ targets providing commercial augmentation to NOAA, EUMETSAT, and the private weather modeling market.

PlanetIQ's GNOMES satellite constellation (GNSS Navigation Occultation and Meteorological Experiment Satellites) uses miniaturized RO receivers compatible with 6U CubeSat platforms, dramatically reducing the cost per occultation measurement compared to earlier-generation COSMIC/COSMIC-2 heritage spacecraft. The company secured NOAA contracts under the Commercial Weather Data Pilot and follow-on programs to deliver RO profiles into NOAA's Global Forecast System and other operational models.

PlanetIQ competes in the commercial GNSS-RO market primarily with Spire Global (the dominant commercial RO data provider with 100+ satellites delivering millions of soundings per day) and GeoOptics. PlanetIQ differentiates on data quality per observation and specialized capabilities including dual-frequency ionospheric correction and rising occultation geometry optimization.