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US Defense Department will stop providing satellite weather data

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Re: US Defense Department will stop providing satellite weather data

#131

Post by defrost »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #80
defrost wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Business as usual there, SpaceX scores $81.6 million Space Force contract to launch weather satellite The contract for the mission designated USSF-178 was awarded on June 27 ( 2025 ) by the Space Systems Command and represents SpaceX’s third consecutive win under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 program. The mission will carry the Weather System Follow-on – Microwave Space Vehicle 2 (WSF-M2),…

This sounds so cheap that we could have thousands of individuals launch their private constellations. Do you really need to subsidise this anymore? If anything brining competition to this space (pun intended) might improve the data quality.

A contract to lift a sat to orbit improves data quality as much as a transport contract to deliver furniture improves a chaise lounge.

Satellites are still tricky and time consuming to build and are an entire other ball of wax than a lift to orbit.

Re: US Defense Department will stop providing satellite weather data

#132

Post by hypercube33 »

ethan_smith wrote: post #29
mlfreeman wrote: post #14

Are the satellites being turned off, or could people with SDRs pick this up directly from space and offer it up for free?

Yes, many weather satellites broadcast in frequencies accessible to amateur SDR setups (137-138MHz for NOAA polar orbiting satellites), though military weather satellites like DMSP use different frequencies and encryption that make civilian reception significantly more challenging.

saveitforparts actively vlogs about the weather satellite sdr stuff. It's an interesting thing to learn about

Re: US Defense Department will stop providing satellite weather data

#133

Post by kQq9oHeAz6wLLS »

jzb wrote: post #107
jimnotgym wrote: post #76

The rest of the world needs to club closer together, and quickly. The US is no longer a reliable ally.

It’s no longer a reliable place to live, either.

I've seen this argument a lot, but I don't see people clamoring to leave. I don't think anyone is taking makeshift boats to Cuba from the US, for example.

If you live in the US, are you actively looking to leave?

Re: US Defense Department will stop providing satellite weather data

#134

Post by hypercube33 »

chamomeal wrote: post #122
burnt-resistor wrote: post #19

[flagged]

Is that possible? I thought GPS works by just listening for signals from GPS satellites? I’m now realizing I know hardly anything about GPS. Like it was made in the 50’s or something? Do we keep sending more GPS satellites into space? Or are there just the original handful?

The basics of it are it's a digital synchronized time signal sent out by a constellation of satellites. Devices listen for at least 3 separate streams of time signals and the. triangulation happens to get a position.

Irrc the satellite signals not encrypted or whatever were randomized to be inaccurate on purpose. This is mitigated these days by using stuff like cell towers - we know exactly where they are. they pick the same signals out and send out corrections to the randomized data which increases accuracy.

Re: US Defense Department will stop providing satellite weather data

#135

Post by bix6 »

GiorgioG wrote: post #129
bix6 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heaven forbid the richest nation on earth that steals resources from everyone else contribute to global improvement.

Heaven forbid the rest of the world pays their own share of the bill. We’re not a charity. We treat our own people like shit, don’t expect to be treated better.

When you light a lamp for someone else, it also brightens your path.

Re: US Defense Department will stop providing satellite weather data

#136

Post by buttercraft »

matthewdgreen wrote: post #127
gwerbin wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Quoting Proj ct 2 25: > Break Up NOAA ... NOAA consists of six main offices ... Together, these form a colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity. This industry’s mission emphasis on prediction and management seems designed around the fatal conceit of planning for the unplannable. That is not to say NOAA is us…

If we survive this, these people will go down in history as monsters.

What if they're the ones who survive and rewrite history

Re: US Defense Department will stop providing satellite weather data

#137

Post by octo888 »

GiorgioG wrote: post #129
bix6 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heaven forbid the richest nation on earth that steals resources from everyone else contribute to global improvement.

Heaven forbid the rest of the world pays their own share of the bill. We’re not a charity. We treat our own people like shit, don’t expect to be treated better.

Much of the world is already VERY accustomed to the US treating it like shit

Re: US Defense Department will stop providing satellite weather data

#138

Post by dzhiurgis »

defrost wrote: post #131
dzhiurgis wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds so cheap that we could have thousands of individuals launch their private constellations. Do you really need to subsidise this anymore? If anything brining competition to this space (pun intended) might improve the data quality.

A contract to lift a sat to orbit improves data quality as much as a transport contract to deliver furniture improves a chaise lounge. Satellites are still tricky and time consuming to build and are an entire other ball of wax than a lift to orbit.

Of course I'm not arguing sats are easy or simple or whatever, but overall cost has and still is dominated by launch cost, by at least an order of magnitude.

Re: US Defense Department will stop providing satellite weather data

#139

Post by mullingitover »

alwa wrote: post #17
genter wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Accuweather, who also depend on this same USG sensor data for their modeling… I don’t think anybody wins from this. See e.g. https://www.accuweather.com/en/press/accuweather-does-not-su...

Most of the world looks at the collapse of the Soviet Union, particularly the looting of state institutions by the oligarchs in Russia, as a cautionary tale.

The current US regime looks at it as a roadmap.

Re: US Defense Department will stop providing satellite weather data

#140

Post by defrost »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #138
defrost wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A contract to lift a sat to orbit improves data quality as much as a transport contract to deliver furniture improves a chaise lounge. Satellites are still tricky and time consuming to build and are an entire other ball of wax than a lift to orbit.

Of course I'm not arguing sats are easy or simple or whatever, but overall cost has and still is dominated by launch cost, by at least an order of magnitude.

  A typical weather satellite carries a price tag of $290 million; a spy satellite might cost an additional $100 million
~ https://science.howstuffworks.com/satellite10.htm

  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) asked the aerospace and defense giant to build it at least three, and potentially as many as seven, new next-generation Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) sats. If all options are exercised, the total contract value will reach $2.3 billion.

  Bad news for Lockheed Martin: That works out to $324.3 million per satellite.
~ https://www.fool.com/investing/2024/06/30/lockheed-martin-wi...

It's generally agreed that ~ $90 million for a sat launch is less than a third of a ~$300 million per sat build cost.

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