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Small weather satellites are having an increasing impact on the delivery of weather data to government, military and commercial users. One of the companies on the forefront of this new wave of weather data delivery is Brandywine Photonics. On this edition of the Ex Terra Podcast, we talk with John Fisher, the CEO of this startup company.

Brandywine Photonics is a member of The MetNet Alliance, which uses small weather satellite technology to measure all things weather, all the time. From power grids, radio communications, and military theater, weather systems influence life on Earth. With MetNet data in their models, Brandywine Photonics customers gain new insight into the inner workings of global weather and climate with much lower latency than the current operational satellites such as POES, JPSS, and DMSP.

Fisher has 31-years\\u2019 experience in designing optical systems. He has designed the gratings and spectrographs for eight organizations (GSFC, ARC, NRL, and Commercial), of which more than 40 have flown or are currently flying in commercial and tactical platforms. He designed and built the spectrometer for the Hyperspectral Imaging and Coastal Observer mission, which was operational on the ISS from 2010-2015. His latest projects have included optical design for the payloads for MetNet Small Weather Satellites, including the Theater Weather Imager & Cloud Characterization Sensor, and the Compact Hyperspectral Infrared Sounding Interferometer. His primary duties at Brandywine are landing contracts with Air Force and NOAA, and teaming on NASA Planetary Science and Earth Science proposals.

Low-cost launch enables the Space 2.0 mantra \\u201cfly fast and fly often.\\u201d Brandywine Photonics scrutinizes every component to create the lightest payload for cost-effective spaceflight. The full constellation costs less than a single legacy satellite.

Working with its MetNet Alliance Partners, the small weather satellite constellations will be fully loaded with the best in space-based environmental monitoring:

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• Theater Weather Imaging and Cloud Characterization
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• Day-Night Imaging
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• Infrared Sounding
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• Microwave Sounding and Imaging
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• GPS-Radio Occultation
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• EO/IR Limb Viewing for Atmospheric Chemistry
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• Space Weather, both in situ and remote sensing
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(Source: Brandywine Photonics)