Episode 20 - Earth Observation Technology with Aravind
Show Notes
Hosts: Jeff Cunningham, Ryan Harris, and Guest-Host Aravind Ravichandran from TerraWatch Space
Guest: No Guest
Description: The first satellites were launched in the early 1960s, but beyond pretty visual imagery, it wasn't until almost 1980 that we found a way to actually harness the power of the data sensed from these Earth Observation platforms and insert it directly into numerical weather models. And because of the scale of investment needed to build, launch, maintain ground links, process, and disseminate the satellite data, governments have exclusively owned the Earth Observation tech stack. Since 2000 though and especially over the last five years, commercial Earth Observation companies and platforms are on a meteoric rise that could very well out-pace governments in the next 10 years. But weather and climate information are meant to serve the public. How will the public and especially developing countries benefit from these new commercial satellite enterprises? How must public-private partnerships change in this space? And how does the weather and climate industry evolve as sectors wrestle for control of the weather operating vertical stack? Join Jeff and I and our guest co-host, Aravind, from TerraWatch Space as we explore these questions and more. LISTEN HERE
References:
- Next NOAA weather satellite launching just in time (SpaceNews)
- Europe’s new weather satellite sets sail, set for December launch (ESA)
- MTG satellite launch marks new generation of weather forecasting (UK Met Office)
- Spire awarded $10M contract to provide NOAA with satellite-sensed data (Biz Wire)
- NASA and Google team up to better track air pollution (NASA)
- Trends in cost for space launch to low Earth orbit (NASA, SpaceX)
- Team Topologies (Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais)
- Data Mesh: Delivering Data Driven Value at Scale (Zhamak Dehghani)
- The Science of Interstellar (Kip Thorne)
- TerraWatch Space with Aravind
Humble beginnings
(0:01:44)
Weather communications and media challenges around the world
(0:15:32)
Data overload
(0:23:47)
Commercializing weather services delivery
(0:33:16)
Public-private partnerships in Earth Observation and weather
(0:43:22)
Bold predictions
(0:57:06)