Midwest Stratospheric Data Systems Receives 2026 Global Recognition Award for research
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CASEY, Ill. - illiNews -- The award honors the company's 1.01-lb X2Griffon platform and MAD-AP drift system, designed to reach altitudes above 115,000 feet while remaining fully FAA-compliant. A maiden science flight is scheduled for September 19, 2026, near Casey, Illinois.

MSDS publishes raw, unaltered observations—including wind profiles, temperature gradients, and stability layers—publicly within 48 hours. Linking these high-altitude profiles with a local personal weather station network creates a multi-scale atmospheric dataset that ranks among the most comprehensive openly available resources of its kind.

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The company scored five out of five across originality, interdisciplinary reach, and real-world application under the Rasch measurement model used by the independent judging panel.

"Midwest Stratospheric Data Systems represents exactly the kind of agile, transparent research model that our research category was designed to recognize," said Alex Sterling, spokesperson for Global Recognition Awards.

"Our goal has always been simple: collect high-quality atmospheric observations and put the raw data into researchers' hands as quickly as possible," said founder and CEO Jeremy David Higgs. "This multi-scale dataset will give the community a uniquely comprehensive, openly accessible resource."