Comment by xd1936
10 months ago
Very cool, congrats on the launch. You're spending nearly all of your time in the stratosphere collecting data, but what correlation does that have to ground forecasts? Are your "AI models" that you're producing forecasting stratosphere conditions, or more than that?
We cruise in the stratosphere until we gather enough solar power to descend to ground level. On the descent and descent we're collecting soundings, which is the data that's useful for all types of forecasts.
Right now we're focused on the stratospheric forecasts because that's what we know really well (and we already have some interested customers). Our data/models are great for all kinds of forecasts, including ground forecasts, and we'll quickly expand beyond the stratosphere.
Are you pairing your data with satellite observations?
Yes, however, like with traditional forecasts, we weigh our balloon observations much higher.