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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/pr

by alwa 1y ago

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-support-project-2025-plan-to-fully-commercializing-nws-operations-noaa-has-critical-role-in-american-weather-enterprise/1670156 https://www.accuweather.com/en/press/accuweather-does-not-su...

Frost1x 1y ago
Are there other countries with similar weather satellites? I imagine China or the EU likely have some of their own. I know the US has been pushing this for free so plenty of nations likely piggy back off the free data. But I imagine larger ones might want their own redundant services to some degree to avoid vulnerability. If so, they might be benefiting, but that’s about it.
- tokai 1y ago
  "Since its establishment in 2014, the Copernicus program has received consistent investment from ESA, making it the world’s largest and most advanced open data Earth Observation initiative for climate, disaster, and resource management."[0] Data from the Copernicus program is available for any citizen or organization worldwide. So a lot of free data will still be accessible. [0] https://newsletter.terrawatchspace.com/global-earth-observation-civilian-programs-budgets-and-trends/ https://newsletter.terrawatchspace.com/global-earth-observat...
- yurishimo 1y ago
  Definitely. The EU has weather satellites and Asia as well. Luckily, they tend to collect data around the entire world but what we lose here is the on-the-ground infrastructure that is woven together with satellite data to give better information about the facts on the ground. Funny enough, this came up in the Netherlands a few months ago. The government released their own mobile app based on the data they collect and the private weather apps got all upset that the government was competing. What made it hilarious though, is that the private companies are all using the open source government data to power their apps! So yea, this data will still be collected in the USA, but then sold to for-profit companies for basically nothing and then they will charge consumers for access to data collected with their collective tax dollars. Pretty messed up imo.
actionfromafar 1y ago
SpaceX?
- defrost 1y ago
  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), along with a secondary payload of experimental small satellites called BLAZE-2. ~ https://spacenews.com/spacex-scores-81-6-million-space-force-contract-to-launch-weather-satellite/ https://spacenews.com/spacex-scores-81-6-million-space-force... New weather sats going up, just not "free data for taxpayers".
  - dzhiurgis 1y ago
    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.
    - defrost 1y ago
      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.
      - dzhiurgis 1y ago
        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.
        1y ago
mptest 1y ago
>I don't think anybody wins from this... Take one quick look at any wealth inequality graph over time and "who's winning" will be pretty clear. Someone always wins. This is simply a step at privatizing everything. Straight out of project 2025. Kagi 2025 noaa. I shouldn't even have to link it. The fact that their entire game was publicly laid out years ago... and still, people act ignorant or are legitimately not paying any attention to politics... We deserve all that this administration will cost us as a collective.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
vel0city 1y ago
It not being publicly published or furnished to NOAA doesn't mean AccuWeather or other private entities won't get this data.
mullingitover 1y ago
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.

by alwa 1y ago

Frost1x 1y ago

Are there other countries with similar weather satellites? I imagine China or the EU likely have some of their own. I know the US has been pushing this for free so plenty of nations likely piggy back off the free data. But I imagine larger ones might want their own redundant services to some degree to avoid vulnerability. If so, they might be benefiting, but that’s about it.

tokai 1y ago
"Since its establishment in 2014, the Copernicus program has received consistent investment from ESA, making it the world’s largest and most advanced open data Earth Observation initiative for climate, disaster, and resource management."[0] Data from the Copernicus program is available for any citizen or organization worldwide. So a lot of free data will still be accessible. [0] https://newsletter.terrawatchspace.com/global-earth-observation-civilian-programs-budgets-and-trends/ https://newsletter.terrawatchspace.com/global-earth-observat...
yurishimo 1y ago
Definitely. The EU has weather satellites and Asia as well. Luckily, they tend to collect data around the entire world but what we lose here is the on-the-ground infrastructure that is woven together with satellite data to give better information about the facts on the ground. Funny enough, this came up in the Netherlands a few months ago. The government released their own mobile app based on the data they collect and the private weather apps got all upset that the government was competing. What made it hilarious though, is that the private companies are all using the open source government data to power their apps! So yea, this data will still be collected in the USA, but then sold to for-profit companies for basically nothing and then they will charge consumers for access to data collected with their collective tax dollars. Pretty messed up imo.

actionfromafar 1y ago

SpaceX?

defrost 1y ago
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), along with a secondary payload of experimental small satellites called BLAZE-2. ~ https://spacenews.com/spacex-scores-81-6-million-space-force-contract-to-launch-weather-satellite/ https://spacenews.com/spacex-scores-81-6-million-space-force... New weather sats going up, just not "free data for taxpayers".
- dzhiurgis 1y ago
  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.
  - defrost 1y ago
    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.
    - dzhiurgis 1y ago
      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.
      - 1y ago

mptest 1y ago

>I don't think anybody wins from this... Take one quick look at any wealth inequality graph over time and "who's winning" will be pretty clear. Someone always wins. This is simply a step at privatizing everything. Straight out of project 2025. Kagi 2025 noaa. I shouldn't even have to link it. The fact that their entire game was publicly laid out years ago... and still, people act ignorant or are legitimately not paying any attention to politics... We deserve all that this administration will cost us as a collective.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

vel0city 1y ago

It not being publicly published or furnished to NOAA doesn't mean AccuWeather or other private entities won't get this data.

mullingitover 1y ago

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.