Could Privately Funded Orbiters Fill The Looming Weather Satellite Gap?

Without global coverage, weather (and climate) prediction models will get things wrong. Pictures like the one above, showing Hurricane Sandy, are captured by satellites owned and operated by our federal government. But we may be facing a looming gap in American weather-watching abilities. Could a private company fill it? Bethesda, Md.-based PlanetIQ wants to launch 12 small satellites into low-Earth orbit, where they would collect weather data that could be used for forecasts and climate models....