Spire, PlanetiQ, Ethereal Space win $67 million in NOAA weather-data task orders

what happened

Spire Global said Sept. 22 that NOAA awarded it a $33.2 million task order to deliver GNSS radio occultation (GNSS-RO) data, including RO profiles with Temporal Resolution Enhancements, running Dec. 1, 2026 through Dec. 1, 2028. NOAA's own NESDIS release, published Sept. 21, states the Sept. 18 award was actually three simultaneous base contracts totaling $67,053,698 for two years, covering 10,000 near-real-time GNSS-RO profiles and 500 low-latency TEC tracks per day: Spire Global of Vienna, VA got $33,158,160 for 5,300 profiles per day (1,100 with temporal-resolution enhancements); Space Sciences and Engineering, dba PlanetiQ, of Golden, CO got $28,413,038 for 4,200 profiles per day (700 enhanced) plus 500 TEC tracks per day; and Ethereal Space of Greenwood Village, CO got $5,482,500 for 500 profiles per day. All three awards are task orders under NOAA's Space-Based Environmental Monitoring Multiple Award IDIQ, part of the ProTech 2.0 vehicle NOAA stood up Sept. 11 with an $8 billion shared ceiling running through 2036. Data delivery for Spire and PlanetiQ runs Dec. 1, 2026 through Dec. 1, 2028; Ethereal's order includes a 35-day data-preparation period, with delivery from Jan. 5, 2027 to Dec. 1, 2028, per NOAA.

why it matters

The clean three-way split gives PlanetiQ and Colorado startup Ethereal Space their own near-term, disclosed NOAA revenue alongside Spire rather than folding them into an undifferentiated "surge option" framing; it also widens the roster of vendors with disclosed task-order dollar figures under the new SBEM vehicle beyond the single company Spire's own release highlighted.

signal-to-noise

quick facts

Companies

Spire Global, PlanetiQ, Ethereal Space

Category

procurement

Impact

notable

SNR

5 / 5

Event date

2026-09-22

Published

2026-09-22 21:52 UTC