In terms of addressable NASA markets, the SuperSwift XT with the custom sensor suite has several unique benefits and fulfils multiple needs of the agency. Key potential customers within the NASA Earth Science program include the Tropospheric Chemistry Program (TCP), the Applied Sciences Air Quality Program, the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) mission, the Aura mission, the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS), the Orbital Carbon Observatory (OCO-2/3) programs, and the Earth Ventures program for airborne field campaigns. These key potential customers would all benefit from the measurements provided by this system in various atmospheric conditions using different sensor payloads which, by design, are easily interchangeable. These key customers represent strategic activities within NASA including the Atmospheric Composition Focus Area, the Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems focus area, and the Weather focus area.
Key potential customers in other government agencies include NOAA, DOE and NSF. Public entities funded by these government agencies such as UCAR and NCAR are also important customers. Black Swift Technologies has engaged with multiple researchers at these organizations who are prepared to purchase commercial systems for atmospheric monitoring upon the successful completion of the Phase II work. For operational weather forecasting and monitoring the National Weather Service is expected to be a key potential partner and customer. Also, the capability of this system to operate in the hazardous environment of a volcanic plume can be utilized in wildfire monitoring and support, where particulates and severe turbulence are a regular occurrence. There is also a commercial market for the multi-hole probe sensor developed as part of this work. BST has been working with another commercial company to add it as part of their offering of atmospheric sensors for UAS. The key advantage of this new sensor is much lower cost at similar performance to existing commercial systems.
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