The Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) has conferred upon MIT Lincoln Laboratory the prestigious 2025 FLC Excellence in Technology Transfer Award. This accolade acknowledges the laboratory’s remarkable contributions in bringing microwave sounders aboard small satellites termed CubeSats to the commercial sphere. Initially, the laboratory engineered this technology for NASA, demonstrating the capability of such satellites to collaboratively gather hurricane data more frequently than previously achievable, thus markedly enhancing hurricane predictions. The technology is presently licensed to the enterprise Tomorrow.io, which intends to deploy a substantial network of sounder-enabled satellites to boost hurricane forecasting and broaden global weather surveillance.
“This FLC accolade highlights a technology with considerable influence, one that could improve hourly weather predictions for aviation, logistics, agriculture, and emergency response, and underscores the pivotal role of the laboratory in transferring federally supported innovation into the commercial arena,” states Asha Rajagopal, the chief technology transfer officer at Lincoln Laboratory.
The FLC, comprised of an extensive network of over 300 government laboratories, agencies, and research facilities, facilitates the movement of technologies from federal laboratories to the marketplace, benefitting the U.S. economy, societal wellbeing, and national defense.
Lincoln Laboratory initially proposed and showcased the technology for NASA’s TROPICS (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of SmallSats) endeavor. Within TROPICS, the laboratory first integrated its microwave sounders onto cost-effective, commercially available CubeSats.
Among all technologies employed for hurricane detection, microwave sounders deliver the most substantial enhancements to forecasting algorithms. These instruments, situated in space, capture a variety of microwave frequencies that can penetrate clouds, enabling the assessment of 3D temperature, humidity, and precipitation within a storm. Cutting-edge instruments are typically sizable (akin to a washing machine) and are launched aboard $2 billion polar-orbiting satellites, which collectively may revisit a storm every six hours. The laboratory researchers envisioned that if sounders were miniaturized, they could be mounted on small satellites, launched in large quantities, and work collaboratively to frequently re-examine storms.
The TROPICS sounder is comparable in size to a coffee cup. The team at the laboratory dedicated several years to develop and validate this technology resulting in a compact instrument while ensuring its performance matched that of conventional sounders for the frequencies that yield the most beneficial tropical cyclone observations. By 2023, NASA initiated the deployment of a cluster of four TROPICS satellites, which have subsequently gathered timely data on numerous tropical storms.
Now, Tomorrow.io plans to expand this cluster into a global network comprising 18 satellites. The resulting high-frequency observations — occurring within an hour — are anticipated to enhance weather forecasts, hurricane monitoring, and early warning systems.
“This collaboration with Tomorrow.io broadens the impact of the TROPICS initiative. The increased constellation size, software pipeline, and robust business model of Tomorrow.io facilitate support for a myriad of commercial and governmental entities. This transition to industry has generated an independent national capability, one that is expected to benefit the economy and government for many years ahead,” remarks Tom Roy, who oversaw the technology transfer to Tomorrow.io.
The transfer process lasted 18 months. Under a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA), the laboratory team modified the TROPICS payload for an upgraded satellite design and delivered the initial three units to Tomorrow.io, two of which were launched in September 2024. Furthermore, the team provided comprehensive training to Tomorrow.io and seven industry collaborators responsible for constructing, testing, launching, and managing the full commercial constellation in the future. The remaining satellites are projected to be launched by the end of this year.
“With these microwave sounders, we can establish a new benchmark in atmospheric data collection and forecasting. This technology enables us to capture atmospheric data with remarkable precision, especially over oceans and remote regions where conventional observations are minimal,” stated Rei Goffer, co-founder of Tomorrow.io, in a press release announcing the September launches.
Tomorrow.io plans to utilize the sounder data as vital input for their weather forecasts, data products, and decision support tools offered to an array of clients, including major airlines and governmental bodies. Tomorrow.io’s nonprofit collaborator, TomorrowNow, also intends to integrate this data into its climate model aimed at improving food security across Africa.
This technology is particularly significant as hurricanes and severe weather phenomena continue to inflict considerable devastation. In 2024, the United States faced a near-record 27 disaster events that surpassed $1 billion in damages each, culminating in a total estimated cost of around $182.7 billion, and resulting in at least 568 fatalities. Globally, these storm systems account for thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in damages annually.
“It has been amazing to observe the Lincoln Laboratory, Tomorrow.io, and industry partner teams collaborating so effectively in rapidly integrating the TROPICS technology to operationalize the new Tomorrow.io microwave sounder constellation,” comments Bill Blackwell, principal investigator for the NASA TROPICS mission and the CRADA with Tomorrow.io. “I anticipate that the enhanced revisit rate afforded by the Tomorrow.io constellation will catalyze further advancements in hurricane forecasting performance beyond what TROPICS has already demonstrated.”
The team responsible for the transfer includes Tom Roy, Bill Blackwell, Steven Gillmer, Rebecca Keenan, Nick Zorn, and Mike DiLiberto from Lincoln Laboratory, along with Kai Lemay, Scott Williams, Emma Watson, and Jan Wicha from Tomorrow.io. Lincoln Laboratory will be recognized alongside other recipients of the 2025 FLC Awards at the upcoming FLC National Meeting scheduled to take place virtually on May 13.