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Edinburgh, 15 October 2021. – Planet Labs announced the launch of Pelican, a new line of imagery satellites to upgrade the company’s existing constellation of the 21 SkySat spacecraft.
With the new, higher-resolution satellites the company can provide faster and near-real time data to customers, Planet said. The Pelican series will be smaller in size but will have a mass between 150-200 kg each. This makes them even larger than the firm’s Dove imagery satellites already in orbit.
Planet is also adding synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery from ESA’s Sentinel-1 satellites as another source of information to its database. SAR is capable of capturing images through clouds and at night as well. With the technology, the company can better accommodate the needs of its civil, agriculture, defence and mapping customers.
Planet is combining with acquisition company dMY Technology Group IV, which trades on the NYSE under ticker DMYQ. With the deal, the space firm has an equity valuation of US $2.8 billion and is expected to close in Q4. Planet signed a multi-year agreement with SpaceX earlier this year as well and is planning to launch Pelican in 2022.
