Israeli-German CloudCT Satellite Launched to Map Clouds in 3D Using AI and Tomography

The Israeli-German satellite CloudCT was launched this morning at 10:12 Israel time aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, alongside 80 other satellites. The tiny satellite, weighing about four kilograms, was sent into space from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It is the first in a constellation designed to create three-dimensional maps of the internal structure and properties of clouds using tomography, a technology commonly used in medical imaging combined with artificial intelligence.

CloudCT is the result of seven years of intensive joint research by Israeli and German scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Technion, and the German Telemetrics Center. The project is led by Prof. Ilan Koren (Weizmann Institute), Prof. Yoav Shechner (Technion), and Prof. Klaus Schilling (Telemetrics Center). Prof. Koren explained that the mission focuses on studying small clouds that are typically undetectable by current remote sensing technologies, addressing significant sources of uncertainty that limit long-term climate models and forecasts.

The satellite autonomously orients itself toward specific cloud fields, a complex task given the need for precise coordination among ten tiny satellites flying in formation. Prof. Schilling highlighted that this precise control is key to autonomous formation flight. The team developed a novel observation method inspired by medical CT scans, enabling unprecedented 3D mapping of cloud microphysics and internal structures. The approach uses AI to assess the reliability of the mapping.

Prof. Shechner noted that the optical CT of clouds requires simultaneous imaging from multiple angles in space using a specially developed camera sensitive to light polarization. Although polarization is invisible to the human eye, it provides critical information about cloud droplets. This camera was specifically designed for CloudCT, and its performance will be tested during the upcoming mission.