WindBorne wins a hefty US Air Force contract for its balloon data
WindBorne won a US Air Force contract worth up to $49 million for autonomous weather-balloon data.
The U.S. Air Force awarded WindBorne Systems a sole-source contract worth up to $49 million for atmospheric data from its fleet of about 700 autonomous weather balloons. The Air Force pays only for ordered data and has so far purchased $1.7 million, with more orders expected. WindBorne, based in Redwood City, feeds balloon readings into its deep-learning forecast WeatherMesh 6, which it says beats the ECMWF physics-based model. The company raised a $37 million Series B and recently navigated an unpowered balloon into a typhoon eye using AI weather models.
- Sole-source Air Force contract worth up to $49 million
- Only $1.7 million of data ordered so far
- About 700 balloons feed the WeatherMesh 6 model
- Company raised a $37 million Series B in August
- First unpowered balloon flown into a typhoon eye
From the original article
3 min read at techcrunch.com
A Silicon Valley startup that uses weather balloons and AI to predict the weather won a US military contract worth almost $50 million.
By Tim Fernholz · techcrunch.com
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