Additional Pelicans and SuperDoves Shipped to Launch Site
Planet Labs Launching on the Upcoming SpaceX Transporter-15 Mission
The newest additions to the Planet Labs Pelican constellation have been shipped to Vandenberg Space Force Base prior to launch on the SpaceX Transporter-15 mission. Along with Pelicans 5 and 6, Planet has shipped the 36 SuperDove cubesats of Flock 4H for launch on the same mission.
“We’re continuing to see incredible demand for our high-resolution data, which is fueling the growth of these constellations.”
Will Marshall, Planet
First generation Pelican satellites are built to provide 50 cm (≈20-inch) imagery across 6 multispectral bands optimized for cross-sensor analysis. Each first generation Pelican spacecraft has the NVIDIA Jetson AI platform onboard, enabling on-orbit processing and accelerating the delivery of actionable insights to customers.
“We’re continuing to see incredible demand for our high-resolution data, which is fueling the growth of these constellations and our recent decision to expand manufacturing in Germany,” said Will Marshall, Co-Founder and CEO of Planet. “With this latest shipment of Pelicans and SuperDoves, as well as our ramped-up manufacturing capabilities, we’re not just putting more satellites in orbit, we’re providing our customers with the consistent and timely information they need to deliver results.”
Planet expects to develop the Pelican fleet to ultimately deliver 30 cm (≈ one foot) resolution imagery, reduced latency from hours to minutes, and up to 30 revisits per day, depending on the fully-scaled constellation size.
Following the successful launches and commissionings of Pelican-2, Pelican-3, and Pelican-4 this year, Pelican-5 and Pelican-6 will expand the capacity of the constellation to provide on-demand, high-resolution tasking for customers across a range of industries, from defense and intelligence to commercial enterprise. Planet has plans for multiple launches of additional Pelican satellites over the next twelve months.
In addition to the Pelican spacecraft, this launch includes 36 SuperDoves (Flock 4H), which will bolster Planet’s flagship daily, global PlanetScope monitoring mission. This addition further solidifies Planet’s industry leadership in Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) and Global Monitoring Service (GMS) – providing customers with real-time, global monitoring across millions of square kilometers. Combining Planetscope with Planet’s high-resolution imagery and rapid tasking capabilities, the company uniquely empowers its customers to monitor change and make better, faster decisions.