Getting Satellite Data to Earth Faster with NOAA

We're excited to announce our collaboration with NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) to test how processing satellite data in space can get critical environmental information to Earth faster.

Moving Processing Into Orbit

Satellites typically send raw data to the ground for processing. We’re moving data processing into orbit so that only the results need to be sent back to Earth. By pairing onboard processing with our own 25 Gbps optical terminal, we aim to reduce total processing and downlink time for data collected in orbit by up to 125×.

Flying on Reason-2

Following the launch of our first satellite, Reason-1, we’re building Reason-2, which will carry our computing and data-processing payload when it launches in 2027. As part of this launch, NOAA will provide an existing open-source AI model and historical raw data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), which flies on NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) satellites. We'll run NOAA's Community Satellite Processing Package (CSPP), including CSPP LEO and the Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MiRS), natively on NVIDIA GPUs in orbit.

Faster Answers When It Matters Most

When disaster strikes, time to decision is everything. Faster access to high-quality environmental data can support real-time weather forecasting and help responders and researchers understand what's happening and act sooner.

It's been a big year for Cowboy Space, and we're grateful to work with organizations like NOAA to build a new kind of infrastructure in space – one that turns satellite data into actionable insights. This collaboration brings us one step closer to our mission of powering humanity from the high frontier.

For more information on this cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA), please visit https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/noaa-and-cowboy-space-corporation-test-faster-satellite-data-processing.