Weather Balloon innovator Kanda Weather is developing an initiative with Copernic Space, a blockchain-powered platform that democratizes space assets, to enable access to live weather data for West African countries. Based on Telos, one of the most active blockchain platforms in the world according to Blocktivity, Kanda Weather is linking with Copernic Space to enable easier ways to acquire and access data that will help increase the efficiency of African farmers and serve as a tool to fight climate change and hunger. The initiative is designed to support not only the agricultural sector, but also insurers, governments, research institutions and more.
Widespread access to real-time satellite data is becoming one of the most useful methods of fighting droughts, fires, and other elements of climate change in Africa and across the world. Access to weather data and forecasting models through digital applications vastly facilitates the decision-making process in agriculture, and this new initiative will provide direct and democratized access to critical data and space assets.
Copernic Space and Kanda Weather will not only deliver African weather data for applications in the region itself, but are also building commercial offerings for U.S. hedge funds and insurance companies that focus on analyzing potential hurricane risks that originate near the African coast.
“From the beginning we’re looking to show how truly wide the applications and benefits are of such data when provided in an easily accessible manner. Kanda Weather shares our vision and our work together has shown that by applying new models and technologies such as blockchain we can unlock benefits for users around the world.”, said Grant Blaisdell, CEO of Copernic Space.
“It is great to work with Copernic Space to connect with hubs and technologists in Africa, so that we can teach students how to collect data and develop interfaces for our forecasts. We’ve seen a lot of excitement in space technology and climate monitoring, and it’s our mission to continue building low-cost solutions that can be applied anywhere in the world,” said Nicolas Lopez, lead engineer at Kanda.
The Kanda Weather balloon project launched on Telos in November 2020, featuring high-altitude devices that collect and transmit information about atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, and wind speeds using a small sensor called a radiosonde. The sensors transmit weather data to the Telos blockchain in real-time, where it can be stored inexpensively as RAM. Telokanda then sends this data to first responders, alerting them of severe weather up to 12 hours in advance.
Without these critical alerts, local farmers have no time to prepare their crops or animals for oncoming storms or the dangerous volumes of runoff from the many deforested areas, and citizens often don’t have enough advanced warning to evacuate. Globally, these gaps in weather data hurt North and South America’s ability to track hurricanes, which often originate over West Africa. Data gaps also prevent climate researchers from tracking patterns in the region.
“We’re always excited at how innovative initiatives built on Telos can help create a better world, and there’s no better example of this than the Kanda Weather and Copernic Space partnership,” said Douglas Horn, chief architect of the Telos Blockchain. “The results of this initiative will undoubtedly save lives and help prevent billions of dollars in loss due to weather damage and loss of crops. We’re proud to provide the technology that powers such important applications for the betterment of our planet.”
