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Ibadan, 10 January, 2024. – AFWERX has selected Muon Space for an SBIR Phase I contract with a focus on weather intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and operational mission planning. The Company will consequently perform a feasibility study to determine the benefit of modifying its multispectral Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) instrument to support the Department of Defense’s (DoD) cloud characterization observation capability.
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and AFWERX partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process. Furthermore, the Department of the Air Force (DAF) began offering the Open Topic SBIR/STTR program in 2018 and expanded the range of innovations it funded. Muon Space will now continue its journey to create and provide innovative EO/IR cloud characterization capabilities.
The Company’s core offerings of data services and mission-tailored Constellation-as-a-Service have significant commercial traction across commercial, Government, and civil sectors, including a recently announced contract with climate tech company Hydrosat.
Muon Space also earned additional funding as an option to the company’s contract with Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLMC)’s Weather Systems Branch and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to collect ionospheric data on their MuSat-2 satellite mission. Announced in July, this is an expansion in scope to the original contract awarded to Muon Space in September 2022 to develop a space-based prototype for global weather sensing.
Speaking on the feasibility study, Greg Smirin, President of Muon Space, said, “This feasibility study is one of the first steps of many in Muon Space’s journey to develop a full cloud characterization observation capability.” The President also added, “The DoD is pivoting to a more resilient distributed weather satellite architecture that counts on a new generation of space companies to develop more innovative integrated sensor and spacecraft constellations.”
