SAN FRANCISCO — Planet Labs PBC, a provider of daily Earth data and insights, announced that its high-resolution Pelican-2 satellite [rendering above] and 36 SuperDoves of Flock 4G were successfully launched to orbit on SpaceX’s Transporter-12 Rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Planet team has successfully made contact with Pelican-2 and started its commissioning process.
Pelican-2 joins Pelican-1 (a smallsat platform tech demonstration launched last year) as part of Planet’s next-generation, high-resolution fleet, to support and expand its existing SkySat capabilities. Planet plans to launch additional Pelicans this year.
Pelican-2 is designed to provide up to 40 cm class resolution imagery across 6 multispectral bands optimized for cross-sensor analysis. Planet has collaborated with NVIDIA to equip Pelican-2 with the NVIDIA Jetson platform to power on-orbit computing—with the aim of vastly reducing the time between data capture and value for customers.
Founded in 2010 by three NASA scientists, Planet designs, builds, and operates the largest Earth observation fleet of imaging satellites. Planet provides mission-critical data, advanced insights, and software solutions to over 1,000 customers, comprising the world’s leading agriculture, forestry, intelligence, education and finance companies and government agencies, enabling users to simply and effectively derive unique value from satellite imagery. Planet is a public benefit corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange as PL.
