[Via Satellite 09-19-2014] Commercial satellite weather company PlanetiQ has partnered with Millennium Engineering and Integration to provide hosted payload opportunities on its upcoming satellite constellation. Millennium received a Hosted Payloads Solutions (HoPS) Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract from the U.S. Air Force earlier this summer.

PlanetiQ is building a privately funded weather constellation starting with 12 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. The company intends to launch the spacecraft by 2017, followed by an additional six by 2019. PlanetiQ satellites are designed to collect data using a fourth-generation radio occultation sensor. According to the company, this sensor is smaller, lighter and requires less power than previous iterations, leaving ample room for hosted payloads.

The PlanetiQ constellation will collect data by picking up signals from the U.S., Russian, European and Chinese Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). The radio occultation sensors are expected to collect more than 30,000 occultations per day. Inmarsat is contracted to deliver data from the constellation over its satellite communications network.