Acme AtronOmatic Chief Scientist and COO Sarvesh Garimella holding the MyRadar cubesat. Photo: MyRadar

Acme AtronOmatic, the makers of the MyRadar Weather Radar app, have launched a non-commercial, experimental communications satellite aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket with launch provider Alba Orbital. The launch event, dubbed “Running out of Fingers,” lifted off on Dec. 6. 

The cubesat will monitor aircraft tracking signals from orbit and relay the data to the ground.  This will help enable the ability to provide positional tracking data for overseas flights that would have been outside the range of traditional, ground-based radar tracking stations in the past. The data aims to allow for increased safety and a more rapid response from rescue operations in the event of an aircraft incident. This initial launch will test the prototype configuration as part of an upcoming commercially-focused service offering.

“Our satellites are going to have a positive impact on the world, simply because we are going to be providing additional data that does not exist right now. The sky isn’t the limit any more,” Acme AtronOmatic CEO and Founder Andrew Green said. “We’ll be able to look at storms in ways that nobody else is doing, and the data that we’ll be able to contribute to forecasting models will help save lives, ultimately.”