Not long after a tornado ravaged Oklahoma in 2013, killing 24 people and causing billions of dollars of damage, U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) learned about an Air Force experiment he thought could lead to more accurate weather forecasts. The experiment, known as Commercially Hosted Infrared Payload, or CHIRP, put a missile-warning sensor aboard the SES-2 commercial telecommunications satellite that launched in 2012. After 27 months on orbit, the CHIRP sensor was shutdown in 2014 amid Air Force concerns about sequestration-driven budget cuts. Last year, Bridenstine urged the Air Force to reactivate the sensor on the grounds that the infrared data could help the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration produce more accurate and timely forecasts.
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