SpaceX successfully launched PlanetiQ’s fifth-generation GNOMES satellite (GNOMES-5) on August 15, 2024, aboard the Transporter-11 rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Within 24 hours of deployment, GNOMES-5 began producing the world’s highest-quality radio occultation (RO) data for weather and atmospheric forecasting.
At the heart of GNOMES-5 is PlanetiQ’s proprietary Pyxis sensor—the most advanced GNSS-RO instrument in orbit—which receives signals from all four global navigation satellite constellations (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou). Pyxis delivers more than double the data available from the next-best GNSS-RO sensors currently flying, enabling unmatched accuracy and resolution for weather forecasting, climate research, and space weather applications.
In addition to the Pyxis sensor, GNOMES-5 is equipped with the world’s most accurate high-gain, dual-linear polarization GNSS antenna. This breakthrough capability allows PlanetiQ to profile heavy precipitation and snowfall, as well as measure surface reflections to monitor ocean surface winds, soil moisture, sea ice, rivers and lakes, flooding, and freeze-thaw transitions. Together, these technologies set a new standard for atmospheric intelligence.
“GNOMES-5 is another leap forward in delivering the most advanced weather data available anywhere in the world,” said Ira Scharf, CEO of PlanetiQ. “With GNOMES-5, we are expanding both the quality and quantity of data available to safeguard lives, strengthen operations, and build resilience in the face of increasingly severe weather.”
PlanetiQ’s GNSS-RO data is used by government agencies and commercial leaders across aviation, insurance, energy, agriculture, and financial services.
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